The Thing About Blondes
by NeeP
Summary: Ryouga thought he found an easy way to make money. But nothing is ever that easy, and the results are interesting to say the least. What does Nabiki have to do with it and do blondes have more fun?
1. To Dye For...

####  NeeP Productions Presents:

**The Thing About Blondes…**   
_By: Niki (NeeP) Paradis_   
**Chapter One: To Dye For...******

The legal stuff: 

_Ranma 1/2 is written by Rumiko Takahashi, produced in Japan by Sunday Comics, and Shogankukan Video (Studios?) It is released in North America by Viz Communications. This story and others by me like it are in no way meant to be used for profit, just entertainment. Anyone else who thinks otherwise is plain loco. Besides, I'm poor and cannot afford being sued by anyone._   
__

Ryouga Hibiki was trying to find his way home on one sunny afternoon. He spent the whole morning trying to find a job in order to save up for his and Ukyou's wedding. The search was fruitless, even though he did have quite a few interviews lined up. So far, he missed every single appointment, as he couldn't find his way to any of them.   
"Chikushou..." He muttered to himself as he checked the clock hanging in a store window. According to the time, he missed his last appointment by two and a half hours. He sincerely wished that Jiro was still in town. Not that he blamed her--she had to leave in a hurry as soon as she heard that her adversary was in Nerima, hunting her down. Mentally he cursed Jakku Mizuno. _If it weren't for that idiot, Mizuno, Jiro would still be around to take me to all my appointments_.   
"Feh," he muttered to himself. "Who am I fooling anyway? It's not like anyone will hire a 19 year-old young man who wouldn't be able to find his way to work." People stared at him as he walked by, partly because he was talking to himself, and partly for his curious appearance.   
At nineteen, Ryouga Hibiki was actually a handsome young man (although he wasn't aware of it). He was tall, with broad shoulders, and muscular due to his training. He had serious changing-hazel eyes, and long dark hair--fastened into a low ponytail at the back of his neck and his bangs kept out of his face by his yellow and black bandanna. That combined with his slightly pointed ears and the fangs that he was named after, he actually looked a little exotic. Ryouga was also wearing his good shirt; a mustard-yellow woollen with long sleeves and cream coloured cuffs. He wore his good green trousers with yellow cords wrapping around the shins up to his knees. He wore brown leather sneakers instead of his usual martial-arts slippers. He also carried his heavy backpack, with his heavy red bamboo umbrella and a portfolio with his resumes in it. In short, the people stared because he looked like he had to go to an interview somewhere in the woods.   
He took his eyes off the ground and looked around, in hope that he would see a building that he would recognise. He was in an area where the office buildings towered overhead. It all seemed familiar, but then again--so did everywhere else that he had been to. He sighed, wondering if he should see if he could Track someone yet.   
"Excuse me..." came a voice from behind him.   
Ryouga turned around. "Yes?" he asked, focusing on a young woman, a little older than twenty, wearing glasses and carrying a clipboard.   
"Would you be interested in participating in a research and development project?" asked the young woman.   
Ryouga shook his head. "No thanks," he said as he was about to turn away.   
"My company will pay you ¥1,000,000 for your participation..."   
"Pardon me?!?" asked Ryouga as he spun back around. _That will cover that down payment on that building next to the restaurant_, he thought. "Where do I sign up?" he asked. The woman passed him the clipboard that she was carrying. Without reading it, he signed his name at the bottom, and handed the clipboard back.   
"Thank-you," she said as she pulled off the copy of the contract and handed it to Ryouga. She pointed out various things to Ryouga as she gave him some instructions. "Tomorrow, at 4 PM, you will show up here at this address." She pointed out the address at the top of the page. "You will be paid at the end of the session." She pointed to another part of the page. "And it is advisable that you wear some old clothes--ones that you won't mind getting stained or dirty." Ryouga simply nodded through everything that she said.   
"Can I bring someone along?" he asked suddenly. The woman looked thoughtful.   
"I suppose so, but without a contract, that person will not be able to participate."   
"That's all right, she doesn't need to participate--just to make sure that I make it here on time."   
"That's fine--uh..." She looked at her copy of the contract. "...Hibiki-san." She smiled at him, as to be reassuring. Then she reached out suddenly to touch Ryouga's ponytail, which hung over his shoulder and down his chest. Ryouga was startled.   
"You have beautiful hair," said the young woman to him.   
Ryouga's face went red and he stammered as he made his reply.   
"Th-thank-you." He turned and proceeded to look for his way home. 

Ukyou Kuonji had locked up the restaurant for the day and was busy scrubbing the grill. She hummed along with a popular love song that had been playing on the radio. Her spirits had been high for the last month, and although the business was slow that day, she saw no reason to lose her good mood. She had a very good reason to be cheerful, and the reason was obvious to everyone. Because, around her neck, on a gold chain was a diamond ring--an engagement gift from Ryouga.   
Ukyou stopped her scrubbing and touched the ring. The ring was something special and not just in its meaning to her. She looked at it again. The ring was made of solid diamond--one piece, with an impression of roses cut into its surface. There was a gold band on the inside of the ring with an inscription: _Always to be lost in love with you..._ She smiled. _He's quite the romantic_, she thought. She couldn't quite figure out how Ryouga came across the ring, but the fact that he gave it to her shadowed the loose ends of his coming by it to the point that it didn't really matter.   
"Don't worry, Ukyou. He'll be home soon. He's on his way already." Jiro Hibiki sat on the edge of the counter, eating the last bit of her okonomiyaki. "Maybe he managed to find a job," she suggested. "I'm sorry that I couldn't take him to his appointments, though... But you know how Jakku is..."   
Ukyou shook her head. "One would think that the jackass would have given up by now, but as you said--that is the way he is."   
"Feh," Jiro snorted. "Perhaps that bump I gave him this time might convince him to give up." She shook her head. "Nah, who am I kidding?" She remembered the fight, and shuddered. It was starting to get harder and harder to defeat him, and now he was finally learning new techniques to fight her with. She managed to knock him out with his own bucket, and left while he was unconscious. She knew that she would have to deal with him someday soon.   
Ukyou finished cleaning the grill and gave the counter a final wipe-down, and then she put her cleaning supplies away. Unwillingly, Ukyou was thinking along the same lines as Ryouga's little sister. She figured that Jiro did have a problem and that it would eventually have to be dealt with, but that still wasn't enough to bring her mood down.   
The key turned in the lock, and Ryouga opened the door.   
"I made it," he said breathlessly. "Hi Ukyou. Hi Jiro."   
"Welcome back, Ryo-chan," beamed Ukyou. "How was your day?"   
"Did you find a job, Oniichan?" asked Jiro.   
Ryouga shook his head. "Sorry, no. I couldn't find my way to the appointments on time."   
"Sorry, Oniichan." Jiro hung her head in shame.   
"That's all right, I found something even better." Ryouga pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Ukyou took it from him and quickly read it. As she did so, her cheerful demeanour fell away. She glared at he fiancee.   
"Ryouga, you **jackass**!!!" she yelled, crumpling the paper and throwing it at him. "Why did you agree to do this?!?"   
"Huh?" Ryouga's reply was eloquent. "What do you mean? I thought it would be a great opportunity to put a down payment on that building next door."   
"But at what cost?!?" she asked him in an exasperate voice. "Did you even read the thing?"   
Ryouga blushed.   
"Uh..."   
"Don't answer, you jackass! If you come back bald, I'll never forgive you." With that, she stormed upstairs to her room.   
_Blink, blink_.   
"Uh..."   
Jiro picked up the crumpled piece of paper off of the floor. She smoothed it out on the counter and began to read it. She grunted as she read through some of the conditions.   
"How bad did I screw up?" asked Ryouga tentatively.   
"Not too bad, actually--providing that you don't wind up bald." Jiro looked at another line. "But if you do, the company will pay an additional ¥100,000 to compensate." She shrugged.   
"What kind of company is it?" asked Ryouga.   
"It's the Kira-kira no Kamenoke Company. They specialise in hair-care and hair-styling products." Jiro folded the contract back up and handed it to her brother. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, Oniichan. These kinds of things usually have most of the bugs worked out before they test it on a person. Usually, they just want the consumer's opinion." Jiro chuckled, then continued in a high falsetto voice. "Does this make my hair shiny enough? --Oh! It feels so soft!" Ryouga laughed. Jiro then continued in her normal voice. "Actually, I think Ukyou's over reacting. You'll be fine."   
Ryouga still felt unsure.   
"Will you walk with me to this thing?" he asked.   
"Sure. No problem," was Jiro's reply.   
"Are you positive that there won't be any problem--like Mizuno...?"   
"He's in jail and can't get out for the next couple of days," she replied. "Apparently he trashed someone's store while looking for me. I understand that the bail is pretty high," she then winked at her brother. "...And I'm not about to pay it, even if I did have the money."   
"Thanks Jiro."   
"Don't mention it, Oniichan." Jiro started rummaging through her backpack, which was sitting next to the counter. "Why don't you call it an early night? I got some homework that I have to finish and you might want to be well rested for this appointment of yours tomorrow."   
Ryouga nodded. "You're probably right. See you tomorrow, then."   
"Good night, Oniichan." 

The next afternoon, Jiro led Ryouga into the business section of Nerima. Jiro was wearing her normal everyday travelling clothes, and Ryouga was wearing his tank top and an old kangaroo jacket over it. Along the way Jiro noticed that Ryouga was trying to stifle a yawn.   
"Didn't you get any sleep last night, Oniichan?" she asked.   
"A little," he said as the yawn escaped. "Mostly, I was thinking about how upset Ukyou was last night. Why would she care about what happens to my looks? I'm not anything special."   
Jiro glanced sidelong at her brother. "Whatever you say, Oniichan..." she replied as she shook her head in silent disbelief.   
Soon they came to the building of the Kira-kira no Kamenoke company. Jiro stopped in front of the revolving doors.   
"Would you like me to come in with you?" she asked her older brother.   
Ryouga swallowed. "Perhaps you better... Maybe that will help me make sure that I make it to the right room, and I guess that I'd like a witness to whatever happens..." he grinned briefly, "in case I have to bust a few heads because of the results of today's activities."   
"Sure," Jiro grinned back at him.   
They went inside together. 

In a little viewing room, a bunch of directors sat around a table with a young woman sitting at the head. Everyone but the young woman was a bit nervous. She had the final say in whether she would fund their project or not.   
Nabiki Tendou looked coolly around the room at the nervous faces that surrounded her. She didn't look into her attaché case where she knew there was a crumpled piece of paper, which had a list on it. A boy that has yet to be born gave the list to her and the list included the name of the company that was looking to be bank-rolled by her.   
"So Ladies and Gentlemen," she began. "Tell me again what you hope to prove with this little 'project' of yours..."   
A woman, slightly older than her, stood up and cleared her throat. She wore glasses and carried a clipboard. "Tendou-san," she started, "it has been common knowledge that the people of Japan cannot colour their hair to a shade of blonde or any other lighter colour without it looking unnatural, and not without it losing its natural texture, making it stiff..."   
"Go on," Nabiki urged.   
"Well anyway, we at the Kira-kira no Kamenoke Company believe that we have come up with a product that will allow the average Japanese citizen to colour their hair to any shade that they wish. The results will be as if the person appearing to have been born with that colour and without the stiffness that peroxide would produce."   
"Sounds interesting," said Nabiki. "So how many volunteers have we got to try this new dye?"   
The woman coughed slightly and blushed. "One," she said.   
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "One?" she asked.   
"Um, yes. No one else wanted to try the product when they read the clause about going bald. The one individual that did sign didn't quite read the contract thoroughly before signing."   
"Oh?" asked Nabiki as she sipped at her latte. "That's all right. Who is this one person?"   
"His name is Hibiki Ryouga."   
Latte was sprayed all over the table and the executives as Nabiki was startled. "_Not Ranma?!?_" she asked incredulously.   
The woman was wiping her face with a napkin as she replied. "I'm sorry, who?"   
"Never mind, it's not important. When is Ryouga-kun suppose to show up?"   
"He is scheduled to be in at four. He said that he will be bringing someone with him."   
"I'm not surprised."   
The phone rang and one of the directors picked it and spoke quickly into the receiver. He put the phone down before turning to the rest of the room.   
"That was Security. Apparently Hibiki-san and his companion has arrived." 

Ryouga was nervous as he and Jiro showed up at the appointed room. The door opened by a business-like woman in a lab coat. She introduced herself to Mariko Yukiyama, the head lab technician. Ryouga then introduced himself and Jiro to her and she let them in and showed the two of them where to put their jackets. Ryouga looked around. The place looked sort of like a hair salon, only with more space between the chairs and mirrors covered two sides of the room. Ryouga pointed the mirrors out.   
"That's a lot of mirrors," he commented to his sister. "Why do you think they need so many?"   
Jiro looked and shrugged.   
"My guess is that the mirrors behind the chairs over the sinks are just that, only mirrors. The rest of them on the other wall are probably one-way glass. The room where the directors and researchers and others sit to observe without being underfoot should be on the other side."   
"That makes sense, I guess." He then looked nervously towards the sinks. "I hope this doesn't involve cold water."   
Jiro looked at him with surprise in her voice. "That's a very good point. I guess there's one way to find out." She turned to the lady in the lab-coat. "Excuse me, but can you tell me if this session involves cold water?"   
The lady blinked at the odd question. "No, it doesn't. Is there a reason for us to be concerned about?"   
Ryouga watched as Jiro thought fast.   
"Yes, my brother experienced a traumatic experience as a child. It involved cold water--I really don't want to go into the details..."   
The woman nodded. "I see... Well then, Hibiki-san, don't you worry about the water. It will be no cooler than luke-warm."   
"Thank-you." Ryouga really didn't have anything else to say.   
"So why don't you take a seat here, Hibiki-san," she said as she gestured to one of the chairs. "My assistants will be right with you. And for you Hibiki-san," she said as she turned to Jiro, "there is a waiting room just over there. Please take a seat in there until this is all over." 

Jiro left her brother to the tender mercies of the lab tech and her assistants. As she entered the waiting room, she was a little surprised to find more of the mirror-like one-way glass. Out of curiosity, she walked over to the glass in an attempt to look within. Almost pressing her nose to the surface, Jiro was able to see through to the other side. She saw a table with seats and a bunch of executives placed around it. At the head of the table sat Nabiki Tendou. Jiro was a bit surprised to see her; after all, the hair-care business was pretty much the last place for the middle Tendou sister to be.   
Not caring about propriety, or what the people on the other side would think, Jiro tapped on the glass, trying to get Nabiki's attention. Once she looked up, Jiro waved eagerly at Nabiki. The young investor gave a casual wave back. Jiro grinned at everyone in the hidden room and walked back to the couches and picked up a magazine. 

"Do you know that person, Tendou-san?" asked one of the project directors.   
"You mean Jiro-chan? She's Ryouga-kun's little sister. A very nice young woman, only a tad too exuberant for her age." Nabiki smiled to herself. "Hopefully she will settle down before her Coming of Age."   
The wall-speaker crackled and everyone turned to one of the main windows that were overlooking the lab. The head technician, Yukiyama, was standing with a clipboard in her hands.   
"Everything's ready to go, Tanaka-san, Tendou-san," she addressed the head director and Nabiki. "Hibiki-san's settled in."   
"Any possible problems that we should be aware of?" asked Tanaka-san.   
"Not with the equipment, sir. But the sister of Hibiki-san states that there might be a problem it he was to be splashed with cold water."   
The head director frowned. "But cold water is not required in the procedure. Did either of them expressed why they were concerned."   
"Only that Hibiki-san had experience serious trauma with cold water as a child."   
Nabiki snorted. "Jiro's quite creative to be able to make that up on the spot," she murmured.   
Tanaka looked towards Nabiki. "Did you say something, Tendou-san?" he asked.   
"Nothing important. Tell me, is there an intercom system hooked up in the waiting room?"   
"Yes, there is." Tanaka passed over a small box with a series of buttons on it. "The green button is the one to activate the intercom in the waiting room."   
"Thank-you," replied Nabiki as she took the box. She pressed the green button. "Jiro-chan? Can you hear me?"   
Through the window, she saw the young woman start and turn towards her.   
"Loud and clear, Nabiki-san," came Jiro's reply.   
"That's good. Why are you here today, Jiro-chan?"   
"Well, Oniichan needed a hand getting here and he'll more than likely need a hand getting home."   
Nabiki chuckled at Jiro's reply. _That's an interesting way of saying that Ryouga has no way in hell getting around without getting lost on his own_. "What other reasons do you have, besides protecting your brother's interests?"   
Jiro looked thoughtful for a moment.   
"Also I guess that I'm supposed to make sure that there are no accidents. Ukyou didn't want him to come home bald."   
"I really wouldn't worry about that," said Nabiki dryly. She pointedly ignored the way that all of the directors and executives looked away. "Now what's this about the cold water?"   
Jiro walked towards the window, close enough to see through. She looked directly at Nabiki and said, "You know what happens when Ryouga-Oniichan gets splashed by cold water. _You know_ how he gets. I just think that it would be in the _best interests_ of _everyone_ to make sure that doesn't happen. But _you_ know that, right _Nabiki-san_?"   
Nabiki brushed aside Jiro's implied threat. "Nothing will happen to Ryouga-kun that shouldn't happen," she said smoothly. "Will that satisfy you?"   
Jiro nodded, and Nabiki released the button. She wasn't planning on dousing Ryouga with cold water, but she knew that Jiro always followed through on her threats, so having fun with Ryouga was out of the question--or was it? Her brow was furrowed, as she was lost in thought. Either way, she didn't like receiving threats, no matter how benign they may be. Her eyes narrowed as an idea came to her.   
"Match him to her," she said to the head director of the project.   
"I'm sorry...?" asked Tanaka, surprised.   
Nabiki explained her idea to the directors and executives. 

Ryouga sat in the chair, waiting nervously. His fingers were making permanent indents in the leatherette arms of the barber's chair. He really wasn't looking towards this.   
A young woman came up to him. She wore a high ponytail and had on a loose-fitting black smock. She looked at him and smiled.   
"How are you today?" she chirped as she pulled out a plastic apron from under the sink and pulled it up over him.   
"A little nervous," Ryouga admitted. He then took a second look at this perky young woman. "Uh, are you a scientist?" he asked.   
"Not at all," she replied. "I'm a stylist. Can't you tell?"   
"Sorry."   
"Don't worry about it, handsome. Okay?" she said as she secured the plastic apron around his neck.   
"Right." Ryouga blushed.   
"My name is Hanako. What's your name?"   
"Uh, Ryouga..."   
"Cute name, it really suits you." Hanako looked at him critically. "That bandanna of yours is gonna have to come off," she said.   
"It does...?"   
"That's right. It is kinda hard to give you a trim with it on."   
"Trim...?"   
"I have to remove the split-ends, before we can continue, and besides, it would be awkward to try and shampoo your hair with it on."   
"Oh..."   
Hanako removed Ryouga's bandanna and placed it on the counter. She also removed the elastic that secured his hair behind him. Carefully, she ran a comb through the thick dark hair and when she reached the ends with her comb, she professionally cut them off. As she worked, she kept asking him questions, mostly to take his mind off his nervousness. Most of the questions were innocent enough, except for one.   
"So tell me, Ryouga. Does a cutie like you have a girl-friend?"   
"Uh, I have a fiancee..."   
"Oh? That tall girl with the short blonde hair?"   
Ryouga chuckled. "No, that's my younger sister, Jiro. My fiancee's name is Ukyou."   
Hanako sighed. "It figures that all the good ones are taken... Oh, well."   
Ryouga blushed.   
Hanako continued. "So the blonde girl's your sister, huh? Not much in family resemblance is there? --Except maybe for the ears. Are those ears for real?"   
"Yes," Ryouga sighed. "They are." _Why does everyone have to mention the ears...?_ he thought miserably.   
"They make you look cute, not that you really needed any help."   
Ryouga squirmed. All of the praise and compliments were making him uncomfortable. He envied Jiro who was at least in a quiet room. 

"Hibiki-san?"   
Jiro looked up from the magazine that she was reading. She looked at the door and saw a young man standing there. He was wearing a black apron and carrying a pair of scissors. He was very handsome, and that fact didn't go by unnoticed by Jiro. She sat up straighter.   
"Yes?" she responded.   
"My name is Toshi. Tendou-san suggested that I should come and see if you would be interested in a complimentary trim."   
"Really? That's terribly nice of her. But I'm afraid that there really isn't much of my hair to trim." Actually, Jiro didn't really trust Nabiki. "I'm also not under a contract."   
The man smiled. "That's all right. She just thought that while you were waiting, you might like a trim." He smiled at her again.   
Jiro melted under that smile. She felt her cheeks redden.   
"Alright. A trim sounds like a good idea." She gave the stylist her most winning smile. "But I should warn you, if you try to incapacitate me in any way, I thrust those scissors through your beautiful eyes, then go do the same to Nabiki-san."   
The stylist paled just a little. "That really won't be necessary, Hibiki-san, you'll see." He gestured to the door. "The chair is in another room, so if you will follow me..." 

Ryouga was nervous as Hanako tipped the chair back towards the sink. He knew that she had the tap running for a few moments and she reassured him that the water was warm. Using the movable nozzle, she carefully wetted his hair. When the hair was thoroughly soaked through, Hanako turned off the tap and wrung out the excess water form his hair. She took a bottle off the counter and squeezed a generous amount into her hand. And then she applied it to Ryouga's hair.   
"Why are you so nervous, Ryouga-kun?" asked Hanako. "I promised that the water would be warm."   
"Sorry," said Ryouga sheepishly. "Conditioned response, that's all."   
"Apology accepted. Now this stuff has to sit in your hair for a few minutes, then I'll rinse it out. So be a doll and don't move, okay?"   
"Okay." Ryouga settled down, thinking that what he was going through wasn't so bad. With the warm water and the steam and the towel under his neck, he was actually quite comfortable. That combined with the fact that he hadn't much sleep the night before, meant that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. The last thing that he remembered was that Hanako was talking to a tall young man in black who appeared to be handing clippings of hair to her. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. 

Nabiki was watching the process through the one-way glass. She was glad that the directors were able to find Hanako to do the actual work. She was the thing that Ryouga needed to calm him down. And as an added bonus, he fell asleep, so now questions could be asked to the staff in the lab, without making poor Ryouga nervous.   
"What is the purpose of the stuff that she is using on Ryouga-kun, now? It's not shampoo, is it?"   
Mariko Yukiyama came up to the glass, with clipboard in hand.   
"What Hanako is using is a primer to alter the surface of the hair follicles. Our product is not used to colour the hair, as it is to coat the individual strands. But the surfaces of each strand of hair must be altered to allow the product to adhere properly. The fairer the shade of hair colour, the longer the hair has to be primed."   
Hanako walked up to the technician and handed her the few clippings of hair that she received from Toshi. The tech took a close look at the hair strands and walked over to a chart with various shades of colours and labels on it.   
"Are you sure this is what you want, Tendou-san?" she asked Nabiki.   
"I'm positive."   
The technician handed the scraps of hair back to Hanako. "This is shade #23. You'll find a bottle of it in the cabinet." She turned back to face Nabiki again. "We weren't intending to use this shade, but something much darker. There is no guarantee that it will perform correctly.   
"Not to worry, replied Nabiki. "If this session should end in failure, I will not hold you responsible."   
"Thank-you for understanding," said Yukiyama. 

Hanako walked back to where She left her 'client'. She chuckled as she realised that he was snoring softly. _At least I got him to relax_, she thought to herself. She was about to rinse the primer out of Ryouga's hair when she got an idea.   
"Can I do his eyebrows?" she asked mischievously.   
Tendou-san's voice came over the intercom. "Go ahead. I'd like to see how that would work."   
Carefully, she dampened Ryouga's eyebrows with warm water then spread a little of the primer over each one. She figured that once the contents of bottle #23 had done its thing, the primer could be removed from the eyebrows.   
_You're going to be so pretty when I'm done_, she thought to her sleeping client as she began to rinse the primer out of his hair. 

Ryouga woke up after what seemed to be a few minutes. The sound of a hair-dryer could be heard and he felt the warm air against his damp head and a brush against his skull.   
"Did I fall asleep?" he asked Hanako, the stylist.   
"You sure did, handsome," she replied. "You were out for quite a while. But that was all right. We finished doing what needed to be done, and I'm pleased to admit that it was a success."   
"So I'm not bald, eh?"   
"There's no point in drying hair that ain't there," she confirmed. "Just give me a moment and you can have a look-see. Okay?"   
"I guess so..." Ryouga replied as he settled back in the chair. A bit of damp hair hit his cheek and settled on the plastic apron. He took a quick glance at the lock of hair and his heart almost stopped. Jerking himself around, knocking away the hair-dryer, he turned to face the mirrors. His jaw fell open at what he saw. 

Jiro had settled herself on the couch in the waiting room. She just finished reading an article about the proper hair-care for young women who are always travelling. Her hand went to her hair momentarily. _ That Toshi really did a good job_, she thought to herself, _and he wasn't hard to look at either_. She picked up another magazine with the title, 101 Hairstyles for Prominent Martial Artists. She started leafing through the pages when she heard a yell.   
"**What the Hell did you do to my hair?!?**" Her brother's voice came through to the waiting room. Jiro sighed and got up; she knew that she had better get into the next room before Ryouga started doing things that would become costly in the long and short term. She walked to the doorway to the lab and took a quick look around for her brother. But what she saw was the staff being chased around by an attractive, but raving madman.   
"Oniichan? Are you in here?" she called out.   
The madman stopped and looked at her. "Jiro?" he asked.   
It was then that Jiro recognised the raving madman as her brother.   
She blinked. _Blink, blink_. Ryouga looked different to her.   
"That is a new look for you, isn't it, Oniichan?" she said dryly. 

Nabiki Tendou watched as Ryouga chased the technicians around the room. He was acting the way she thought he would. It would shock anyone to have fallen asleep with dark hair, only to wake up as a _blonde_. Because now, Ryouga Hibiki had hair the exact same colour as his little sister. And it changed his appearance quite a bit. And in a sense, it was Jiro's fault that her brother's appearance was the way it was. Especially when it was the clippings of blonde that Toshi, the stylist, acquired when he trimmed Jiro's hair that helped determine the colour that Ryouga's hair would have become. It wasn't much of a revenge, but it wasn't really much of a threat in the first place, and Nabiki was satisfied that she got it. And she really didn't like being threatened at all.   
Nabiki packed up her papers and placed them in her attaché case, as she watched the technicians and the stylist Hanako corner Ryouga to finish drying and brushing his hair. She saw Jiro trying to calm her brother down. Their fair hair was easy to pick out from a bunch of brunettes and other heads that were darker still. Apparently the test was a success: Jiro's hair was naturally blonde and Ryouga's had been coloured to match it, and without knowing the truth, it was impossible to tell who was the true blonde.   
She put a small check mark next to the company's name on the old crumpled list.   
"Arigatou, Iikiba-kun," she murmured to the memory of the boy who won't be born for a year or two. So far, every item on the list she acquired three years ago was proven to be correct. And the Kira-kira no Kamenoke Company was the last item on the list. Nabiki smiled, her portfolio was growing at an incredible rate, partly due to the suggestions on the list and partly due to some investments into some other interests of her own.   
Nabiki knew that her husband and her family had no idea why she was so determined to make so much money. People from outside of the family simply thought that she was merely greedy. But she had reasons. One the big ones was so that she would not be a drain on the Kunou family's wealth. In other words, she wanted to make a name for herself without relying on the Kunou-family influence. That was why she kept her maiden name. She knew how some of Tatewaki's family didn't think she was worthy enough for the family line. She was more than determined to show them otherwise.   
There was another reason as well.   
Under the cover of the table where she sat, Nabiki rubbed her hand slowly over her slightly protruding belly. _Don't you worry, kiddo_, she thought to her unborn child, _Okaasan's promises that you'll get all the things that I never got_. Nabiki remembered the hard times that her family had gone through over the years. As a business, the Tendou dojo was never very prosperous. There were times when the meals were meagre, the times when Soun couldn't afford his daughters' new clothes. She was determined that her child will not go through the same. Even if the marriage with Kunou goes sour, she will be more than capable of supporting their child. _I'm going to do right by you, you'll see_. 

Jiro was leading Ryouga home. She was getting a bit worried as Ryouga wasn't talking at all. He had his kangaroo jacket on with the hood up, trying to conceal his entire head.   
"It's not so bad, Oniichan," she tried consoling him again. "You're not bald."   
"Might as well be," he muttered. "It looks way too different."   
Jiro thought it over for a bit.   
"Sure it looks different. In fact, you look a bit different, but not in a bad way. I bet that if you let your hood down, you'd find that a lot of girls would be looking at you."   
Ryouga shook his head. "You're just saying that."   
"No, I'm not. But here's something to think of, Oniichan..."   
"Hmm?"   
"At least we actually look like we are brother and sister," Jiro chuckled.   
Ryouga smiled a little under the hood. "I suppose you're right," he said. "I wonder how Ukyou's going to take this, though..."   
"She probably be surprised. But she'll be glad to see you will still have all of your hair."   
"Would you stop it with the 'bald' comments? It's starting to wear a little thin."   
"Sorry, Oniichan." Jiro pulled out the pamphlets and looked them over. "So are you planning to go back to the Kira-kira place for the follow ups?"   
"I dunno. Why should I?" Ryouga had already sworn that he would never return to that place again...   
"They will pay another $10,000 for each visit."   
...Then again, it might not be as difficult of a visit as the first, he figured.   
"I'll wait and ask Ukyou's opinion," he said to her. 

The restaurant was closed for the evening. Ukyou had finished cleaning sooner than usual, and now she sat waiting nervously for Ryouga to return home. To be honest, she was more than a bit concerned about the results of the testing. She sighed. Ryouga may do the dumbest things at times, but his heart is usually in the right place. Whatever had happened, he had done it with her in mind, and she could appreciate that. She just hoped that neither of them would regret it.   
She heard the key turning in the lock and she looked up towards the door. She watched as Jiro opened the sliding door and bring Ryouga inside. His hood was up and his head was down. Ukyou steeled herself for the worse.   
"Is he bald...?" asked Ukyou hesitantly.   
"Nope!" chirped Jiro. "Not at all."   
"Might as well be bald," muttered Ryouga. He slumped down even more.   
"Huh? What happened?" Ukyou was concerned at Ryouga's mood. It had to be something drastic to have him act like this.   
"I think he looks cute, Ukyou. He doesn't." Jiro was apparently enjoying herself, so Ukyou figured that it couldn't be that bad, whatever it is. Ukyou then decided to get to the bottom of the situation.   
"Ryo-chan?" she asked.   
"What?" Ryouga's voice was so low.   
"Look at me."   
Nothing happened. Ukyou tried again.   
"Ryouga! Look at me!"   
Ryouga raised his head sullenly. He met her eyes momentarily, then looked away. Ukyou was startled. Something was different about her fiancee's appearance but she couldn't quite figure out what.   
"Take off your hood," encouraged Ukyou.   
Ryouga shook his head.   
"Please, Ryo-chan...?"   
Ryouga put his hands to his hood and left them there.   
"Ryouga?"   
Ryouga pushed his hood down, revealing a long beautiful mass of blonde hair. Neither bandanna nor elastic band was holding it back, and so it tumbled down his shoulders and chest. He looked at Ukyou with apprehension in his eyes.   
Ukyou reached out and touched a lock of the thick blonde hair. _It's the same colour as Jiro's_, she thought in wonder. She was surprised to find it felt the same as it did when it was black. She laughed, partially because she was relieved that Ryouga did not come home bald, and partially because he came home looking so--pretty, for lack of a better word. She looked into Ryouga's face and saw the apprehension intensify. _He's frightened of what I would think_, she realised.   
"At least you didn't come home bald, Ryo-chan," she murmured as she reached up to kiss him. 

Ryouga was a little more than surprised by the kiss; he was expecting a different type of reaction from her. But she wasn't yelling, and in fact, she actually chuckled at him, so maybe things weren't as bad as he thought.   
"So you're not angry?" he asked after he caught his breath.   
"No, not really," replied Ukyou. "It looks rather pretty."   
"Pretty?" he asked, confused.   
Ukyou thought about her word choice for a moment. "Yes, pretty," she said.   
He heard Jiro chuckled behind him. He sighed and brought out his bandanna from his pocket. As he tied it around his head, he glanced at his fiancee and remembered why he was in this particular predicament. He smiled to himself.   
"I guess things could be worse," he said thoughtfully. "There is a good reason to why I did this..." He touched his blonde hair and gave the girls a mischievous grin. "And as the English put it: There are some things that are worth dyeing for." 

* * *

_What do you think of the story so far? Please email all C&C's to [nikiparadis@hotmail.com][1]. Thanks for taking the time to read this._

_Illustrations to this story as well as the others can be found in Iikiba's Photo Album ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html][2])._   
_Please visit my page: The Crossroads ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/][3]) A site dedicated to Ryouga Hibiki, anime's favourite Lost Boy._

   [1]: mailto:nikiparadis@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html
   [3]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/



	2. The Hunt For the Perfect Man

NeeP Productions Presents: 

**A Thing About Blondes**   
_By Niki (NeeP) Paradis_   
Chapter Two: The Hunt for the Perfect Man. 

A young woman stood on the street of Furinkan. She had waist long black hair and vivid green eyes. Around her, trying to look unobtrusive and commonplace were four tall muscular women in everyday clothes. The girl herself was wearing a school uniform for the local high school. She looked around at the still sleeping town, and smiled to herself. She snapped her fingers and a small, yet physically fit woman in a trench coat came out of an alleyway and approached the young woman.   
"Yes, your Highness...?"   
"Misha, you are my most trusted servant and confidant. I would like your opinion about this little operation of ours."   
"May I speak freely, your Highness...?"   
"As always."   
The small woman took a deep breath. "This operation does not make sense. I really can't see how going about like a commoner will produce the results that you desire..."   
The young woman listened patiently. "Go on."   
"It might be easier to announce your presence and desires and let the right man come to you."   
"Except for one thing, Misha," explained the young noble woman. "That method won't bring in the right man. The right man wouldn't go for that kind of thing."   
"But please understand, your Highness... It will be difficult for myself and the rest of your loyal retainers who came with you to provide you with adequate protection." Misha was very concerned.   
"Perhaps... But who would try and attack an innocent schoolgirl within a place of learning?"   
"I don't know. But please, your Highness, do be careful."   
"Of course, Misha. But remember to address me by my given name..." the young woman smiled warmly at her most trusted servant--and friend. "I AM going incognito here."   
"Of course... Celeane." 

It was six AM in the morning and Ryouga Hibiki woke up to the soft buzz of his alarm clock. He reached over and after about five minutes, he managed to find the clock and turn the alarm off. He yawned, rubbed his eyes and sat up. He felt along the wall beside his futon for the rope that was pinned there. Having found it, he got out of bed, and followed the rope out of his small bedroom towards the washroom.   
Ryouga usually got up a half-hour before the girls, and an hour before the restaurant opened. That gave him time to find his way to the washroom and do his morning toiletries while the water was still hot. The other advantage about the hour is that there were no snide remarks about his lack of a sense of direction from the peanut gallery.   
He was still half-asleep, so it took about twenty minutes, even with the rope to guide him, to reach the washroom. He yawned again as he fumbled for the light switch. He flipped it on in time to see a blonde-hair stranger in the same room as he was. Without thinking twice, he let fly with a punch.   
"Hiiiiiyaaaaa!!!" he shouted as he attacked. 

Ukyou woke up to Ryouga's yell and the sound of glass smashing. She shot out of bed slammed open the bedroom door and ran towards the washroom. She heard the sound of footsteps on the stairway that indicated that Jiro was on her way up as well. She reached the washroom and looked inside. At first she was startled to see a strange young blonde-hair man sitting among the debris, then she remembered that the young man was her fiancé.   
Ryouga was sitting on the floor among the pieces of the washroom floor, in shock. His now-blonde hair was a total mess and one of his hands was bleeding with bits of glass stuck into it. He cradled his injured hand as he looked around at the damage that he just caused.   
"Ryo-chan?!?" asked Ukyou anxiously. "What happened?"   
"Oniichan?" asked Jiro behind her. "Are you all right?"   
Ryouga looked right at her with uncomprehending eyes. Ukyou was then aware of the fact that she was still in her nightgown, which was no longer than an oversized T-shirt. But Ryouga wasn't really aware of it.   
"I forgot that I look different," he said as he raised his uninjured hand to touch his hair. He gave a small self-loathing smile as he continued. "I came into the washroom, turned on the light and saw some blonde-hair guy. It wasn't until after I made contact with the mirror when I realised that I saw my own reflection." He sighed. "I'm sorry about the mess..."   
"It's okay, Ryo-chan," sighed Ukyou as she went over to him and helped him up. "Let's get you downstairs and clean that hand up." She looked to Ryouga's little sister. "Jiro-chan? Could you clean this up, please?"   
"All right." Jiro looked towards her brother. Ukyou could see the concern in her eyes. But the blonde girl didn't say anything as she went out of the washroom to get a broom.   
Ukyou tugged gently at Ryouga's wrist. "Let's go, Ryouga," she said softly to him. Ryouga nodded and went with her quietly. 

In the kitchen of the restaurant, Ukyou was gently removing the last of the glass splinters from Ryouga's hand. Ryouga sighed, then stifled a cry as Ukyou yanked out a sliver with a pair of tweezers. He knew from experience that Ukyou was as fast with her huge spatula as Jiro was with her bucket, and that neither of them had any problems knocking him out if it would keep him still.   
Ukyou pulled out the last sliver and turned to get the rubbing alcohol to disinfect the hand with. Ryouga shuddered. The slivers were bad enough, but the alcohol was going to sting like hell, and he knew it. When Ukyou turned back towards him, he braced himself for the worse.   
"So tell me why you attacked the mirror again," requested Ukyou as she dabbed an alcohol-drenched cotton ball to the cuts on his hand.   
Ryouga hissed as the cuts stung. He took a brief look at Ukyou, who seemed to have paused in her ministrations for a moment.   
"I just didn't recognise my reflection," he muttered. "And I was half-asleep. I saw a face that I didn't recognise, and I attacked. --I mean, who wouldn't attack if they found a stranger in the washroom?" He sighed. "The rest you know..."   
Ukyou chuckled. "Well, you do look a bit different... And those people definitely did a thorough job..." She peered closely at his face. "Even your eyebrows are blonde."   
"I know. I heard that it was that Hanako's idea. It's just that I don't like the fact that I don't even recognise myself. It's a little awkward."   
"But you don't look bad at all, you know..." Ukyou said as she resumed treating the cuts.   
"I know, I know. I look '_pretty_'." Ryouga made a face, partially at the comment, and partially because of Ukyou's treatment.   
"It's just for a little while."   
"Yeah, a little while... I take it that you think that I should go through on the follow-ups, right?"   
"Well, since you've already gone through the worse of it..." Ukyou was bandaging the hand, as she gave her opinion. "And it is just for two months..."   
"I suppose..."   
"We'll talk about it later, Ryo-chan. We got a business to run. Now, let's get you back upstairs and into your uniform, before it's time to open."   
Ryouga nodded listlessly. "Right," he muttered. 

Ranma Saotome was hiding from his wife. And the breakfast that she made. _Whoever it was who said that married life was bliss, has obviously never tasted Akane's cooking_. He grimaced. Kasumi moved out shortly after she married Dr. Tofu, and Nodoka was teaching Akane the fundamentals of cooking. But even with his mother's help, he could not expect miracles --especially when it came to Akane's meal attempts.   
He stepped out from behind the phone-pole where he was hiding and realised that he was in the market district and not far from either the Nekohatten or Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. Considering that he had grabbed a free meal from Shampoo the day before, Ranma figure that it would be an excellent day to grab a bite from Ukyou. Besides, Shampoo's temperament was decreasing as her abdomen grew. She was not taking her pregnancy well. Mousse, on the other hand, was ecstatic, and he let everyone know that he was looking forward to raising a strong girl.   
Ranma passed Jiro, who was on her way to school. She was wearing her modified girl's uniform, which had slacks as opposed to a skirt.   
"Good Morning, Ranma-san!" she chirped in greeting.   
"Hey, Jiro!" called back Ranma. "Is Ryouga there, today?"   
"Yep! But don't tease him, he's very sensitive about his appearance today." Before Ranma could ask why, Jiro had turned a corner and had disappeared from sight.   
Ranma scratched his head in confusion. Why would Ryouga be sensitive about the way he looked? He didn't think it was the 'ear' thing again... Of course, Ranma teased Ryouga terribly when he first acquired the ears, or at least he did until the day Ryouga left him mashed into the ground, with many threats for more of the same treatment until Ranma promised to stop. By then, Ryouga was accustomed to the new shape of his ears. To be honest Ranma was hoping that Ryouga wouldn't be around --that way, he would be able to get more to eat and without comments of his 'lack of faithfulness' for avoiding his wife's food. He sighed. Maybe he'd be able to get the 'Lost-Boy' to leave before he made his order.   
Ranma walked into Ukyou's restaurant. He noticed that the place was busy, and that there was some new guy taking orders from the customers. He walked up to the counter where the owner was busy cooking and sat down.   
"Hi, Ranchan..." greeted Ukyou. "I see that you're hiding from Akane's cooking again."   
Ranma grimaced, "It's that obvious?"   
"Only to those who know you, Sugar..." Ukyou flipped a cooking okonomiyaki with her spatula. "So what are ya having today?"   
"One of your specials, Ucchan." Ranma looked around the room. "So where's Ryouga?" He then jerked his thumb towards the new blonde guy. "And who's the Fabio-wannabe, over there? And does Ryouga know that he's wearing his uniform?"   
"I've got news for you, Ranchan," said Ukyou as Ranma felt a hand yanking hard on his shirt collar. "That is Ryouga."   
"Erk!" was Ranma's intelligent reply as he was hauled off of his seat. He turned around quickly to see deep hazel eyes glaring into his own.   
"Ryouga?!? What the hell happened to you?!?" Quickly, Ranma looked over his rival's appearance; the thick blonde hair and the eyebrows. Ryouga glared at him, not answering.   
"Is it a magic spell?"   
"No."   
"Is it another curse?"   
"No."   
"Tell me, man... I know! You fell into the Spring of Drowned Beach-Bum!"   
"NO!!!"   
"Get serious, Ranchan!" snapped Ukyou as she levelled her spatula on Ranma's head.   
"What is it, then?" he asked as he rubbed the newly raised bump on his head.   
Ryouga growled.   
"If you really need to know, it's hair-dye." Ryouga looked away embarrassed, while keeping his tight grip on Ranma's shirt.   
Ranma was flabbergasted. "Hair-dye?!?" he asked.   
"Hair-dye," confirmed Ryouga.   
"It seems so... uh, so..."   
"Prosaic," supplied Ukyou.   
"Yeah, that's it. Prosaic. Waitaminute! Hate to tell you this man, but you can't dye dark hair blonde."   
"It's a new type," Ryouga sighed. "They're testing it on me... So far, it seems to work."   
"I'll say..." was Ranma's reply.   
"Here's your okonomiyaki, Ranchan," said Ukyou as she placed the dish on the counter.   
"Which I see that you're eating instead of the breakfast that your wife had probably made you," muttered Ryouga. "You do realise that you're scum, don't you, Saotome?"   
Ranma wrested himself free from his rival's grip and sat back down. "Shut-up, Blondie. I'm eating here."   
Ryouga was about to retort again, when Akane Saotome stomped into the restaurant and up to Ranma, who didn't noticed her presence until after she yanked him off of his seat. He landed flat on his back. The remains of his okonomiyaki landed on him, covering his shirt.   
"Akane...?" he asked flabbergasted.   
"Ranma?!? What are you doing here?!? And I got breakfast on the table too!!!" Akane stood glaring down at the prone form of Ranma.   
Upset over the loss of his okonomiyaki, Ranma made a very stupid reply. "That's why I'm here..." he muttered. Unfortunately for him, Akane heard him.   
"**Ranma no Baka!!!**" she screamed, as she pulled her mallet out of nowhere and raised it to bring it down on her husband.   
"Akane, wait! I'm sorry." Ranma tensed up for the on-coming blow, leaning against the stool.   
The mallet started to come down.   
"Akane! Wait!" Ryouga reached over and grabbed the mallet from his former beloved. "We just replaced the seats."   
Akane was stunned as she allowed the mallet to be removed from her grip. No one has ever interfered between her and Ranma like that before. When the shock wore off, she became bewildered. Then bewilderment turned into annoyance. Then annoyance became rage. She turned to the liberator of her mallet and was ready to rant.   
"What's the big idea? Coming into an argument between a woman and her husband..." She stopped as she looked at the person holding her mallet. "Do I know you...?" she asked.   
Ryouga blushed. "H-hi, Akane-san..." he said as he smiled shyly.   
"Ryouga-kun?!?" Akane could only gape at the blonde man in front of her. "What happened to you?"   
"Hair-dye," was all that Ryouga said.   
Akane just stared.   
"Hair-dye...?" she asked.   
Ranma got up slowly as Akane was distracted by Ryouga. "Hey, man. I owe you one."   
"He didn't do it for you, Ranchan," said Ukyou as she served another okonomiyaki, as she was doing throughout the exchange. "Those new stools were expensive."   
"Oh."   
"We can't afford to buy any more..." she continued.   
"_I ... got ... it_," Ranma replied. He pulled on his wife's wrist. "Let's go home, Akane. I gotta change."   
Akane turned away from staring at Ryouga. "And breakfast is still on the table as well."   
Ranma grimaced. I forgot about that. "It must be cold by now, Akane... It won't be as good."   
"Don't worry. I had all the dishes covered before I came to get you. They should be just fine."   
"Urk." Ranma was at a loss for words as Akane dragged him out of the restaurant.   
"Good-Bye, Ranchan!" called Ukyou after them. "Bye Akane!"   
"Bye Akane-san!" said Ryouga. "See you around Ranma."   
"Bye Ryouga-kun! Bye Ukyou!" replied Akane.   
"See ya, Ucchan! Bye Blondie! 

Jiro was on her way home after school. Walking with her were some girls from her class, Miyuki, and Mariko. They laughing, giggling and talking about boys-- or at least Miyuki and Mariko were. Jiro just listened and provided the occasional comment. Jiro never had time to make friends before. Before she met Ryouga-Oniichan, she was always on the run from Jakku. After she met him, she met quite a few people, but after she started going to school, she found that she had the opportunity to make lots of friends, so she did.   
They trio reached the door of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki shop. They paused at the entrance and Jiro asked the girls if they would like to come in. The two girls agreed each hoping that they would be able to see Jiro's cute older brother. They went in, and towards the counter. The business was slow at the moment and wasn't expected to pick up for a half-hour.   
Ukyou poked her head up from behind the counter and saw them immediately.   
"Welcome back, Jiro-chan!" she said. "Come sit down and have something to eat. Your friends too."   
"Thank-you, Ukyou-san," replied Miyuki.   
"Where is Ryouga-san?" asked Mariko whom immediately clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed.   
Ukyou grinned knowingly. "He's washing dishes in the back. He'll be out front when he's done."   
Mariko blushed again. "Uh, thanks for telling me, Ukyou-san..."   
"No problem, kiddo," said Ukyou. "Now what would you like on your okonomiyaki...?"   
After Ukyou managed to cook up three orders, the three girls went back to talking as they ate.   
Mariko sighed. "Ukyou-san is sooooo lucky to be engaged to your brother."   
Jiro chuckled.   
"Did you guys hear about the new exchange student?" asked Miyuki, trying to change the subject.   
"Who? Celeane?" asked Mariko.   
"What did you hear?" asked Jiro.   
"I hear that she's actually a princess form an island in the Pacific," chimed in Mariko.   
"No way...!" Jiro didn't believe it.   
"Really! And get this! The rumour goes..." Mariko's voice trailed off as she stared at Ryouga who had just entered the restaurant, carrying clean plates.   
"Hey! Why are you stopping...?" Miyuki's voice stopped as well, upon seeing Jiro's brother.   
Ryouga stopped in front of the girls, suddenly aware of their staring. Jiro was tapped on the shoulder. She turned to face Mariko.   
"Um, Jiro-kun? Isn't your brother's hair usually dark?" she asked in a whisper.   
Jiro just laughed as she watched her brother blush. 

It was later in the evening of the same day and Ranma and Akane both came over for a snack of okonomiyaki and some conversation with Ukyou. Jiro was doing homework at one of the empty tables and Ryouga was taking orders from some a couple of businesswomen who just wanted a quick bite to eat. Ranma was not unaware of how the two were staring at Ryouga as he made his way to the counter. They chuckled and made comments in a low voice that Ranma couldn't hear, but by the way Ryouga's face began to redden, he could figure out the type of comments they were.   
"Uh, Ukyou, two beef specials, one with extra yakisoba," he said in an embarrassed voice.   
Ukyou simply raised an eyebrow, looked at Ryouga's red face, grinned at him and then proceeded in cooking up the order.   
Ranma wasn't jealous of Ryouga. Or so he kept telling himself. After all, he was a married man, and Ryouga was engaged. Why would he jealous, that a couple of unmarried women thought that blonde-hair Ryouga looked hot? Why would he be jealous, just because that they were the fourteenth and fifteenth to do so since he and Akane entered about an hour ago? He was only wearing his damn working uniform, for crying out loud!   
Ukyou finished the two dishes and handed them to Ryouga. She called out directions as Ryouga headed, in the wrong direction, towards the right table. When he finally reached the right table, the women gave him the change and whispered something to him. Ryouga's ears went brilliant red, and he quickly backed away. But unbeknown to him, the bucket of water that he was using earlier (and forgot about its whereabouts) was right behind him. He went down with a splash.   
The two women looked up from their meal momentarily. The only saw Jiro doing her homework and the spilt bucket. They didn't seem to notice the wet pile of clothes or the movement from within them. But Ranma did. He walked over to the pile of clothes to see if he could fish P-chan out. He was more than a little surprised when he pulled a yellow piglet. Ranma almost dropped the pig in his shock, but he quickly recovered and laughed.   
"I never seen a blonde pig before!" he chuckled as he carried P-chan over to the counter.   
"Say, what?!?" asked Ukyou incredulously.   
Ranma dropped P-chan onto a stool. "Take a look for yourselves."   
Both Ukyou and Akane looked over the yellow piglet, which seemed to be trying to shrink into himself. Even Jiro got up from her homework to take a look.   
"**Kawaii!**" she chirped as she got up behind Ranma.   
Akane sighed. "Poor Ryouga-kun... You look so silly." She reached to give the piglet a reassuring scratch behind the ears.   
P-chan's ears perked up, and he stiffened. Huge tears came to his eyes. He blinked them back, then jumped off of the stool and ran into the backroom.   
"Oniichan!" Jiro dashed after him, after pausing long enough to grab a kettle that was sitting on the stove. Moments passed as there were sounds of a scuffle in the backroom, then Ryouga burst out. He was now wearing his usual clothes and his face was red. He grabbed Ranma by the collar of his shirt and then headed towards the front door.   
"We'll be right back," Ryouga called to the ladies in passing. Ranma had no choice but to comply as he was dragged along.   
Once outside, Ryouga let Ranma go. Ranma immediately spun around to yell at the Lost Boy.   
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" he yelled.   
Ryouga clapped his hand over Ranma's mouth and growled into his ear.   
"You're going to take me to the pharmacy," he said.   
"What for?"   
"I'm not gonna stay like this for another minute. I need to buy some hair-dye."   
"Uh, Ryouga? Didn't you just get your hair coloured?"   
"I want to change it back."   
"What for?"   
"So I don't have to face those preying eyes of all those women."   
"And I bet that Akane had something to do with your decision."   
Ryouga hung his head. "She said that I looked silly."   
"You do anyway, P-chan."   
"Shut up."   
"Okay, I can accept that. So why do you need me to take you there?"   
"Do I have to spell it out?!?"   
Ranma laughed. "I guess being a blonde is making you even more a ditz in the direction department than usual..."   
Ryouga replied by planting a fist in his rival's face.   
"Shut-up and take me there!"   
Dazed, Ranma could only reply: "Sure thing man, whatever." 

Ukyou was puzzled by Ryouga's sudden departure. "Where do you think they're going?" she asked the others.   
"I have no idea," replied Akane.   
Soon enough, the boys came back, carrying a small paper bag.   
"Excuse us," said Ryouga as he and Ranma raced by them and up the stairs leading to the living quarters. Ukyou shook her head.   
"Excuse me for a sec," she said to Akane and Jiro. "I'll be right back." She left the counter and went up the stairs after the boys. On her way up, she heard the two of them talking.   
"Hey, Ryouga? What happened to the bathroom mirror?"   
"I don't want to talk about it. Just read the directions, okay?"   
"Okay. Um, 'First remove cap from bottle 'A' and pour in contents of bottle 'B'. Shake well. Apply directly to hairline...'"   
Ukyou blinked. _What the hell..._ Shaking her head, she went back downstairs.   
"I have no idea what they are doing," she said to the girls. 

Twenty minutes later, Ranma was rinsing Ryouga's hair. He shook his head in amazement as he did so.   
"I hate to tell you this, Ryouga, but it's not working."   
"What do you mean that it's not working?!?" The running of the tap muffled Ryouga's voice.   
"The dye isn't sticking. It's rinsing off into the sink."   
"No way!" Ryouga lifted his head from the sink and grabbed a lock of his hair. Except for the stream of dark liquid running form it, it was just as blonde as it was before. He groaned, and shook his head. Dark droplets were sprayed everywhere, hitting the walls and Ranma's outfit.   
"Hey! Hang on, Ryouga! I gotta get the rest of this gunk outta your hair!" Ranma reached up, grabbed Ryouga at the top of his head forced it into the sink. On its way down, Ryouga's head cracked solidly into the tap.   
"Shit!!!" Ryouga yelped. "What are you trying to do, Saotome?!? Kill me?!?"   
"Let me get this crap out at least!"   
"Watch what you're doing, Ranma!" yelled Ryouga as his head hit the tap again. 

Ukyou heard the commotion from upstairs. "Excuse me again," she said to the others. She ran up the stairs and threw open the washroom door. She stared in amazement at the mess of her washroom. Black dye stained the walls, and ran down the shirts of both boys. There were cracks in the surface of the sink. The whole room was a disaster. She took a deep breath and looked at the faces of the two boys. Guilt and embarrassment covered both. She decided to ask them a simple question.   
"**_What the hell have you two Jackasses been doing?!?_**" 

_ One week later..._

Ukyou was preparing for the after-school rush. Earlier that day, the last of the repairmen had left after repairing her washroom. Both Ranma and Ryouga worked extra hard to earn the money to pay for the work. She sighed. _Those two idiots_, she thought as she shook her head.   
Two days after Ryouga came back with blonde hair, she noticed that the business was picking up--mostly in the form of teen-age girls who wanted to watch the confused young man.   
It was a mixed blessing. Good, because the schoolgirls knew that they would have to buy something to be allowed to stay, so they would. It was bad because those same girls would giggle even though they knew that the 'pretty blonde boy' was not available. There were lots of these girls coming in, but they would only make small orders and sit around and eat slowly, and try and linger for as long as they could, while taking up space that could be used by more serious patrons.   
Ryouga was at a loss, or so it seemed to her. He tried to keep up with the bussing of the tables while Jiro concentrated on taking the orders, but the girls' giggling chatter kept distracting him. It was true that the schoolgirls were only talking in whispers, but Ryouga heard almost every word as if it had been shouted. Everyday, after the 'open' curtain was brought down and the doors closed for the night, Ryouga would be standing with a ridiculous red flush on his face and having difficulty meeting Ukyou's eyes.   
Ukyou sighed. She had the feeling that it would be another day like that. The only difference in today was the fact that the object of the schoolgirls' infatuation would be away for the first of the follow-ups that he agreed to. Jiro had gone with him, to make sure that he actually got to the appointment on time. _ Oh, well_, she thought to herself. _At least I'm not alone with the crowd_. She looked to her help of the day.   
"Everything ready, Konatsu?" she asked.   
"Yes, Ukyou-sama," replied the effeminate ninja. "You and I can handle the crowd, just like we did in the old days."   
Ukyou smiled. "Thanks, sugar. That's real nice of you, considering that I know how you feel about my engagement to Ryouga..."   
"Please, Ukyou-sama. I owe you my well being, if not my life. At least let me serve you anyway that I can..." He smiled as he bent down to remove a bit of lint from the hem of his kimono. "I'm glad that we're still friends, and if Ryouga-san can make you happy..." he trailed off.   
"All right, sugar, whatever you say." 

Ryouga snorted as Jiro and he left the Kira-kira no Kamenoke building.   
"That's it?!? They just run their fingers through my hair, wash and dry it, and run their fingers through my hair again?!?"   
"They were checking for things, I'm sure, Oniichan."   
"What do you mean? I wash my hair regularly."   
Jiro chuckled and shook her head. "I asked the head technician about it and she said that they were checking for structural damage to the hair shaft and seeing if dark roots of your hair was showing. They were also testing to see if your hair is still soft, or if the colour that they were using was starting to go brittle."   
"Okay... I guess."   
"At least you got a check for letting them play with your hair."   
"Yeah, you're right." Ryouga felt the check in his pocket, and smiled as he thought how it was going to be put to use for his and Ukyou's future. "I seems a little stupid to me, but I guess I can put up with it."   
"That's the spirit, Oniichan."   
Ryouga changed the subject.   
"How's school going?" he asked his little sister.   
"Pretty good, actually." Jiro grinned. "Considering this is the third year of school that I have actually attended, I'm surprised that I'm doing as well as I am."   
"You're not stupid, Jiro-chan."   
"Thanks Oniichan."   
"Anything new happening?"   
"As a matter of fact, there is a new exchange student at Furinkan High," Jiro looked thoughtful for a moment. "Rumour has it that she is princess of some sort of tropical island."   
Ryouga looked sceptical. "A princess? Really?"   
"That's the rumour. And she does seem to have some bodyguards with her."   
"Oh?"   
"Yeah. And they're women. Tall, strong women who try to blend in with the crowd, except they're way too big."   
Ryouga shook his head. "Sounds too unreal... Why would a foreign princess come to Japan and attend a public high school incognito? What kind of agenda would she have?"   
"Beats me. Maybe she's looking for something."   
Ryouga and Jiro walked on towards home, unaware that they were being watched by a sinister-looking figure in the shadows of an alleyway. 

Misha was standing in the alleyway, just overlooking the crowd. She had little clue to who exactly her liege-lady was looking for, but she promised to keep her eyes peeled for anyone who met the princess' requirements.   
She looked through out the crowd on the street. Nobody in particular caught her eye. Then the setting sun flashed off of something golden. She turned her head to look.   
A young man and a young woman were walking down the street. The sunlight had apparently reflected off of their blonde heads. The girl she dismissed almost immediately, but not without noticing that she could easily pass for one of the warrior women of her own people. The young man was a different story.   
Misha watched and noted the young man's appearance, his build, and his walk. She figured that the young man was either a body-builder or a fighter, only a closer examination and continued watching would distinguish which. She wondered if this particular young man met all of the princess' requirements. She decided to see if she could get a little closer.   
Moving from shadow to shadow, the small woman approached the two young adults. As she got closer, Misha was able to catch phrases of their conversation. The girl was talking about a new student in her class, and the boy was asking details. She couldn't hear everything, but Misha was pretty sure that she heard the word 'princess' in the speech of both people. She frowned. She did not look forward to telling Celeane that her cover was in jeopardy.   
Suddenly the young man stiffened. "I think we're being followed," he said to the girl.   
"Yeah, I feel it too, Oniichan," replied the girl.   
Misha dashed behind a corner before the two managed to turn around. She cursed at herself for being so careless. _Damn!_ she thought to herself. _Both of them are warriors-- and experienced ones_. The two young people looked for their trailer, and at finding no one, they turned back and went on their way.   
Misha waited for a couple of minutes, then climbed up the wall of the building she was hiding behind and onto the roof. She watched the two until they disappeared into the market district of Nerima.   
_ I'll track these two later, she thought to herself. First, I have to report my findings to the princess._

_A couple of days later..._

Ranma Saotome was on his way to Ucchan's after he had done his shopping for Akane and had attended all of his interviews. There was still time before the schools let out for the day, so he knew that the restaurant would be rather quiet. He still had an hour to kill before his wife was expected back home, and besides, Ukyou was his friend and she was a very good conversationalist. Plus there was the free okonomiyaki. And if Ukyou was too busy to talk, there was still Ryouga.   
Ranma chuckled. He was having the time of his life. He had figured out a way to get his daily exercise. He teased Ryouga until he got so enraged that he would challenge Ranma to a fight. Which worked for Ranma.   
He sighed. He couldn't bring himself to spar with Akane, his father was becoming less of a challenge, and with everyone who was formerly his rival, was paired off, either married or engaged. There was no one left to fight with, except for Ryouga.   
However, Ranma found it difficult getting the Lost Boy to spar with him. The thing was that Ryouga was often too busy either trying to help Ukyou with her business or trying to earn money. And even if he was interested in a fight, he had other priorities that often came first. So the challenge was to A: find the moment when Ryouga was not busy, or B: Get him enraged enough that all the other responsibilities would be forgotten.   
And that was harder. Teasing him about Akane didn't work anymore. And all of the old insults; calling him a pig, teasing him about his sense of direction, twitting him about his ears, just didn't work unless it was one of those moment when Ryouga was not busy. But since that morning two weeks ago, when he found Ryouga with hair of another colour, Ranma has been teasing Ryouga with as many blonde jokes as he could think up. And it seemed to work. Ryouga would then grab Ranma by his shirt and drag him outside, to proceed trying to pound his face in.   
Ranma lucked out. Ryouga was taking a break. He was sitting outside the restaurant with his back against the wall of the building. He was twiddling with a small stone and trying to ignore the catcalls of the passing women. He was wearing his tank top and had hung his uniform wrap inside the building.   
Ryouga looked up as he heard Ranma approach. He stood up and stretched.   
"I thought that you'd never get here, Saotome," he said.   
"Huh? You were expecting me?" asked Ranma.   
"Let's say that I was sort of hoping you would show up." Ryouga proceeded with cracking his knuckles.   
"Really? Usually, I'd have to bug you until you'd attack. What brings this on?"   
Ryouga smiled, letting his fangs show. "I thought that you wanted to fight, Ranma... Let's get to it, shall we?"   
"Why?"   
"Just shut up and fight!" Ryouga charged at Ranma. Ranma side-stepped and put out a foot to trip his opponent.   
"C'mon Blondie, What's with you?!?"   
Ryouga fell and rolled and got back to his feet. "Tell you later. Just fight!" And he charged again.   
Ranma somersaulted over the Lost Boy, and spun around. Ryouga stopped in mid-charge and spun around as well.   
"Okay, if that's the way you want it, P-chan," muttered Ranma as he jumped up at Ryouga aiming to place a kick squarely in the other youth's face. Ryouga side-stepped and grabbed Ranma's ankle before it connected. Using his strength, he heaved and started to throw Ranma into the ground. Ranma tucked into a ball before he hit the cement, and managed to kick his leg free. He recovered quickly, and threw a series of punches at Ryouga's face.   
"**Tenshin Amagurikan!**" He shouted. Ryouga blocked some of the punches and took some of the others without getting ruffled. He then dropped down and lashed out with a low kick, succeeding in knocking Ranma's legs out form under him. Ranma went down hard. But he quickly scrambled to his feet as Ryouga came at him again. Ryouga was actually grinning as he came. Briefly, Ranma thought about using the Rising Dragon Ascension. Then thought better of it. Ryouga wasn't actually trying to kill him, he realised. He was just sparring for the fun of it, or so it seemed. And that suited Ranma just fine. Fighting can be more fun if one is not struggling to save his own life.   
So the boys kept at it for about twenty minutes, then they called it a draw, and sat down with their backs to the wall, panting slightly.   
"That was a great fight," said Ranma as he wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. "You're a fun guy to fight when you're not trying to kill me, P-chan."   
Ryouga gave a lopsided grin. "Thanks, I think..."   
"So what brought that on?" Ranma asked.   
Ryouga shrugged. "I just felt like it, today. Besides I got tired of people telling me how pretty I am. The girls treat me like I'm different. But you don't treat me any different. I guess I just wanted something to take my mind off of this!" With a grunt, Ryouga tugged at his blonde ponytail.   
"So why don't you go and have those people remove the colour, if it bothers you so much?"   
"They pay me ¥100 000 every week if I go in for the follow-ups."   
"Oh."   
They sat panting for a few moments more.   
"Hey, Ryouga...?"   
"Yeah?"   
"Since you've been blonde for a week or so, I wanna ask you something."   
"What?"   
"Do _blondes _have more _fun_?"   
"Not that I noticed. But then, I'm engaged."   
"Oh." Ranma had the decency to blush. 

_The second week..._

It had been two weeks and Princess Celeane was still confused by the peculiarity of the place. All of her research had shown that schools in Japan were well run, orderly educational institutions. That wasn't the case with Furinkan High School. She rested in the shade of a cherry tree while she contemplated the peculiarities of that particular school. The headmaster was a certified nutcase and the teachers weren't much saner. Fights in the schoolyard were common and the most bizarre competitions were held almost everyday. And the school was really big on martial arts. But the techniques and styles were at best described as unique and at worse described as plain weird. She had been told that a few years ago the fights, competitions and challenges were even more weird, frequent and more varied, but she found that hard to believe.   
But one fighter stood out form the rest. A young woman in her senior year was to be considered the best. This girl was striking in her height, her brilliant blonde hair and her slightly pointed ears. Celeane had the opportunity to watch her in action from time to time. Every single challenger that this girl faced was soundly defeated, whether female or male.   
Celeane found herself wondering from time to time about how this young blonde warrior woman would fair against her own retainers.   
In the midst of her contemplation, she noticed that Misha was approaching her. She realised that her most trusted advisor had something urgent to tell her by the look on her face. She sat up immediately.   
"What is it, Misha?" she asked.   
"I believe that I have found the one that you are looking for, Prin--I mean, Celeane."   
"You have?!?" Celeane jumped to her feet. "Show me where!"   
"Perhaps we should wait until after school, so that we won't draw attention," suggested the small woman.   
"You're right, Misha. That's why I value your friendship, you have such good common sense."   
Misha grinned. "Thank-you, Celeane." 

_The third week..._

The crowd of teen-age girls was starting to get on Ukyou's nerves. At first she welcomed the increase in business. She was hoping that they would come to watch and stay for the food. Then as the days went by, the profits went down as the girls were buying less and less, even sharing meals as to just be able to sit and stare at her fiancé. They occupied the tables for incredible lengths of time and their constant giggling filled the air. She realised then that the average schoolgirl did not have the money to but a meal of okonomiyaki everyday. They were just coming to stare, and daydream. Ukyou didn't quite understand it, everyone knew that Ryouga was her fiancé. Why did these little girls come to watch someone they knew was off-limits to them?   
She watched Ryouga as he wiped down a counter and picked up the empty plates. She tried to see him through the eyes of a dreaming young schoolgirl. It was hard for her, though. Ukyou never had the typical life of a schoolgirl. She dressed as a boy and attended boys' schools, where competition was the norm and training was her life. She never had the chance to dream about boys, and fairy-tale relationships.   
But she did have a chance to read a few girls' comics, once to see what the fuss was all about. The stories featured beautiful young men with fair hair and beautiful princesses. They had wonderful romances.   
She watched Ryouga as he worked. He had the grace of a martial artist and a wonderful build that came from his training. That combined with his usual hazel eyes, fangs and slightly pointed ears made him look a bit exotic. But the addition of the blonde hair raised him rise up in the eyes of the girls to the status of **_Bishounen_**-- beautiful young man. No wonder why the girls were staring. She still didn't like it though...   
But one girl was really starting to get on her nerves. She wore the uniform of Furinkan High, and had beautiful long black hair. She had started coming in about a week ago. She always bought the most expensive dishes, but she stared at Ryouga with an intense look that Ukyou didn't like at all. The girl's green eyes were filled with determination, that Ukyou had a feeling that will cause her trouble later down the road.   
She watched as Jiro served the unusual girl, and they talked. Ukyou listened to the conversation.   
"Are you related to that young man?" the girl asked in an oddly accented voice.   
"Yep," Jiro answered cheerfully. "He's my brother."   
"Could you introduce me to him?" asked the girl. "Please, Jiro-kun?"   
"Um, sure. Why not?"   
_I could give dozens of reasons why you shouldn't introduce Ryo-chan to that overly young hussy,_ Ukyou thought.   
"Oniichan?" called Jiro. "Please come and meet a classmate of mine..."   
Ryouga walked over to his sister. Jiro did the introductions.   
"Celeane-kun, this is my brother, Hibiki Ryouga. Oniichan, this is my classmate, Celeane... Uh, what is your last name again?" asked Jiro embarrassed.   
"I don't really have one," replied the Celeane-girl. "But I am very honoured to meet you, Ryouga-san. You're very handsome, you know."   
Ukyou's temper almost flared as she watched Ryouga gulp, blush and stammer a reply.   
"No I'm not," he said quickly. "I'm not handsome really at all..."   
"And modest too..." purred Celeane.   
**_She's actually flirting with MY Ryo-chan!!!_** Ukyou seized her spatula and marched from behind the counter and towards the conniving teen-age girl. One of the women that were sitting at another table got up and placed herself between the pest and Ukyou. The woman was even bigger than Jiro, but that didn't deter the young okonomiyaki chef.   
"Outta my way!" she shouted. "Young girl or not, that hussy's gonna pay!"   
The girl looked at Ukyou and her face turned thoughtful. "I guess we overstayed our welcome. Thank-you, Jiro-kun. It was nice meeting you Ryouga-san." Celeane winked at the still blushing Ryouga.   
"Bye..." was all he said.   
Then the girl and a bunch of women placed money on their respective tables and left. 

Outside, Misha, who was keeping watch outside, approached Celeane. The small woman in the trench coat retied her sash before asking her liege-lady, "Well, what do you think?"   
"I believe that you found him, Misha," the foreign princess smiled. "I want the preparations made so we can leave in three days," she told her retainers.   
"Of course, your highness..." replied one of the tall women.   
"Misha, I want you to keep track of this Ryouga Hibiki. Do not lose him."   
"Of course, Celeane."   
The dark-hair girl smiled at them all.   
"I can't believe we found him. But we did. _The perfect man._"   
The women all nodded in agreement. 

_Three nights later..._

Ranma and Akane were sitting at the counter at the Okonomiyaki restaurant one evening. It was almost closing time and business was slowing down as it usually did towards the end of the night. They were chatting with Ukyou would was taking a breather during the lull. Jiro was bussing the few tables that were not occupied by eating customers. In fact, there was only one customer left, a small dark woman, wearing a trench coat.   
Akane was closely examining the diamond engagement ring that Ukyou had received form Ryouga.   
"It's beautiful, Ukyou... But where did Ryouga-kun get it? I mean, the ring is just one piece, a round diamond with a hole in the middle. It must have been expensive..."   
"It's just a rock..." muttered Ranma.   
Both girls turned on him at once.   
"Excuse me, Ranchan?!?" asked Ukyou coldly.   
"How can you say that?!?" gasped Akane. "I never got one at all."   
Ranma then realised that he was in deep and serious crap.   
"I'm sorry, Akane..." he apologised sincerely. "I know that I should have gotten you one..." A brilliant idea occurred to him. "I promise that if I ever come across the means, I will get you a beautiful ring--even better than P-chan's."   
"Really, Ranma? You will?"   
"I really promise, Akane."   
"That's gonna be tough Ranchan..." smiled Ukyou. "The way I understand it, this ring is pretty unique."   
"Yep," chimed in Jiro. "Oniichan had it specially made."   
"Oh my," murmured Akane.   
"Where is Ryouga, anyway?" asked Ranma.   
Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask such stupid questions?" she asked him.   
"Sorry." Ranma grinned in mock apology. "I actually forgot who I was talking about."   
"R-right. Like I can believe that." Ukyou shook her head.   
"Actually, he went for his weekly appointment at that hair-care company," supplied Jiro. "I was able to take him there, but Jakku showed up." She grimaced. "Oniichan said that he'd be able to find his way home, and so I left him there."   
"And so, we're still waiting for him to show up," sighed Ukyou.   
"Figures," muttered Ranma.   
Akane elbowed him in the ribs.   
There was the sound of someone staggering up to the door of the restaurant. Ryouga grabbed the door frame and hauled himself through it.   
"I...made...it," he gasped as fell through and landed face-first onto the floor.   
"Ryouga-kun?!?" asked Akane, alarmed.   
"Don't worry, Akane," laughed Ukyou. "He's fine. He does this every time. Get up, Ryouga."   
Ryouga propped himself up on his elbows. Though exhausted, he looked up at everyone and grinned. "Your constant concern for my welfare touches me deeply, Ukyou," he said wryly.   
Everyone laughed, including the slight woman at the table.   
Ryouga sat up and reached for one of his martial arts slippers that came off when he fell. "It wasn't easy trying to get back here, you know."   
"You probably found your way to Nagano on your way here," suggested Ranma.   
"Was that the place where they held the Winter Olympics? That would explain the ski-jumps..."   
Ranma, Akane, Ukyou and Jiro all face-faulted.   
Not noticing, Ryouga continued. "Anyway, I been walking all day and I'm a bit hungry. Ukyou, would you mind...?"   
"Not at all, Ryo-chan," replied the chef as she started another okonomiyaki on the grill.   
Ryouga stood up and was about to make his way over to the counter when all of a sudden four tall women wearing some sort of battle amour came crashing through the door and headed directly towards the blonde boy. Ryouga spun around to face the noisy intruders. Ranma got off his stool and did the same. Akane sat a little shocked and Ukyou quickly flipped over the okonomiyaki that she was cooking, then reached for her battle spatula. Jiro was coming around from the side. Before any of them could say anything, the small woman in the trench coat jumped onto the table that she was sitting at and pointed imperially to Ryouga.   
"That's the one that the Princess wants!" she shouted. "But what ever you do, don't hurt him."   
_They want me?!?_ thought Ryouga to himself. _Whatever for?!?_   
"**What the HELL is going on here?!?**" challenged Ukyou.   
The amour-clad women made no reply as all four of them reached for Ryouga.   
"Answer me!!!" shrieked Ukyou, as she threw some of her little spatulas. The woman that she aimed at deflected the sharp projectiles with some sort of energy shield mounted to her wrist. The others held Ryouga in such a way that he was almost immobile. _They have some sort of power-suits_, Ukyou then realised.   
"Ranma, do something!" yelled Akane from her stool. But Ranma just stood shocked, he still couldn't bring himself to battle women. Jiro had no such problem, as she charged and aimed a low lick towards the legs of one of the women who held her brother. The woman went down hard and Ryouga's struggles became more aggressive. He managed to knock down another of his captors, using sheer brute strength. Ranma snapped out of his stupor and leaped into the midst of the fight. He was easily knocked aside by a power-enhanced blow made by one of the women. While heading towards the wall of the restaurant, he recovered, spun around and used his feet to catapult himself off the wall and back to the big woman who struck him. He barrelled into her and his weight combined with the momentum was more than sufficient to knock her down. Ukyou was trying to distract the women by using all of her diversionary techniques, like the flour mixed with gunpowder and the glue-coated yakisoba noodles. Jiro managed to kick the legs out from another woman, and there was a huge crash as woman and battle-amour landed on the floor.   
The small woman in the trench coat watched as the struggle continued. She shook her head, pulled out a small object from within her coat. She barked out orders to her troops.   
"Initiate Plan B, now!" she shouted. All of the women immediately stopped fighting. While their young opponents stood around confused, the women quickly placed gas masks over their faces. So did the smaller woman standing on the table. She then threw the small object that she was holding into the middle of the women and 'kids'. Once it hit the floor, a thick gas came oozing out. Jiro and Ryouga, who were in the middle of things, were the first ones to fall. Too late, Ranma realised what he was dealing with.   
"Akane! Ukyou! Get back! It's knock-out gas..." Ranma slumped to the floor as he was being overcome by the gas.   
But the warning came too late as both girls grew dizzy and slumped to the floor--Ukyou barely missing her still hot grill. The last thing that Ranma remembered was a dark-hair teenage girl coming through the door of the restaurant. She was wearing a gas mask as a precaution, but that didn't disguise the triumphant look in her eyes as she looked over Ryouga's prone form. 

Ukyou woke up to the smell of burning okonomiyaki. She stood up, while still dizzy, pulled the offending dish off the grill with her over-sized spatula and threw it into the sink. After she turned the tap on to put out the flames, she took a quick look around the restaurant. Jiro and Ranma were unconscious in the middle of the restaurant floor. Akane was slumped over a stool, drooling slightly onto the new cushion. Nowhere in sight was Ryouga. She wondered briefly if he woke up and immediately got himself lost. But she doubted it. He would have stayed until he knew that at least Akane, Jiro and herself were all right. She spotted a piece of paper pinned to a table with a large exotic looking knife. She stumbled over to the table, removed the knife and read the note. Her face became whiter than it was before. Her body shook in rage. She then gave an inhuman howl of anguish.   
"What happened, Ukyou?" asked Jiro as she slowly sat up. Without a word, Ukyou shoved the paper at the blonde girl. Jiro looked the note over. 

It read: 

**In the name of Princess Celeane of the Island of Fumei have**   
**hereby taken Hibiki Ryouga to become the consort of**   
**Her Royal Highness. Any attempt of retrieving of said consort**   
**Will be dealt with most severely.**

"What are we gonna do, Ukyou?" asked Jiro as she put the note down.   
"I don't know about you, sugar," said Ukyou calmly. "But I'll be damned before I let that teen-age hussy marry my Ryo-chan!" 

* * *

_What do you think of the story so far? Please email all C&C's to [nikiparadis@hotmail.com][1]. Thanks for taking the time to read this._

_Illustrations to this story as well as the others can be found in Iikiba's Photo Album ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html][2])._   
_Please visit my page: The Crossroads ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/][3]) A site dedicated to Ryouga Hibiki, anime's favourite Lost Boy._

   [1]: mailto:nikiparadis@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html
   [3]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/



	3. Ukyou to the Rescue

  
**The Thing About Blondes**   
_Niki (NeeP) Paradis_   
Chapter three: The Reversal of the Usual Roles: Ukyou to the Rescue! 

Ukyou was mad. Very mad. So mad that Jiro had to hold her back before she could wreck her own restaurant.   
"I'm gonna kill that little hussy! How DARE she kidnap my Ryo-chan?!?"   
"Please Ukyou, you gotta calm down," said Jiro softly into her ear. "This isn't helping Oniichan any."   
Jiro held on tight, making sure that Ukyou wasn't about to hurt herself. Ukyou struggled against the younger girl, but finally she gave up and started sobbing softly.   
"What do I do now?" she asked wearily.   
Ranma and Akane were cleaning up the mess from the fight. Ranma shook his head at Ukyou. Akane was more verbal.   
"You go and rescue him, that's what you do!"   
Ukyou sniffled. "But how do I begin?"   
Jiro let go of Ukyou and stood back. She reached over the counter and picked up the sheet of paper that was left behind. She waved the sheet in front of Ukyou's face.   
"Well, we already know where she's taking him-- the island of Fumei. We just gotta look that up on the map."   
Ukyou sniffled. "How do we get there?"   
Akane blinked. "By boat, how else?" she said in a confused voice.   
"I mean, how do we cover the expenses? We can't afford to rent a boat..."   
Jiro looked thoughtful for a moment. "Leave that to me..."   
"Me too," suggested Ranma.   
"What are you two gonna do?"   
Ranma and Jiro looked at each other, then nodded as if in agreement.   
"We're gonna make a deal with the devil," said Ranma. 

A medium sized luxury yacht was speeding through the endless sea, on a course to who knows where, better known to the passengers as the Island of Fumei. A curious seagull perched on the rail of the quick-moving craft and looked into an open window. It was dark inside, but the bird was able to make out the forms of three human beings.   
"Scram, you nasty thing!" shouted a voice from the inside, and a small stone came zooming towards him. Knowing that he still found his life desirable, the seagull spread its wings and took off--just in time to avoid the stone. 

The Fumeian princess looked away from her latest acquisition towards her most trusted confidant, Misha. She raised her eyebrow as if in question.   
The small woman was still panting with the sudden exertion of throwing the rock. "I really hate the dirty things," she grunted, gesturing towards the seagull.   
Celeane shook her head and looked back down at the sleeping young man on the bunk. His sleep was restless as he tossed and turned. The island princess was a little concerned; she didn't want her prized catch to hurt himself in any way. The bruises would mar his beauty. She didn't want to use restraints for the same reason. So in order to transport her groom to be, she had to resort to drugs. That, for the most part, rendered him unconscious.   
She had never seen anyone like him. In the bunk was a well-built nineteen year-old Japanese boy. He had beautiful long blonde hair, and delicately pointed ears. His mouth was slightly opened, revealing an exotic looking pair of fangs. But what really attracted Celeane to him were his eyes. Technically 'hazel' they had the ability to appear to change colours, ranging from green to brown to grey, depending on his mood. They were closed at the moment, but the princess knew that she would never get tired of looking into the eyes of this beautiful young man. She couldn't wait to get him home and marry him.   
"Ryouga..." she tried the foreign name on her tongue. "Prince Ryouga..."   
Misha, still in her trench coat, looked at the comatose boy in the bunk.   
"Do you think he really is the one, Princess?" she asked.   
"Just look at him, Misha..." the princess said dreamily. "And he's modest too, a little shy, but that doesn't matter. And he's got to be strong too..."   
Misha snorted. "I'll say... It took four of the ladies to hold him down when the knockout gas wore off. And they were wearing power-suits. I have never seen anyone so strong..."   
"But they didn't hurt him, right?" asked the princess worriedly.   
"No, we didn't."   
"Will there be any more trouble getting him home?"   
Before Misha could reply, a slightly slurred voice came from the bunk.   
"W-where am I?"   
Both women turned towards the young man, who was struggling to sit up. He brushed loose strands of blonde hair out of his eyes as he looked at his surroundings. He blinked almost owlishly as he tried to focus on the two women. Celeane inhaled as the boy finally focused on her. With the drug still in his system, the boy's eyes appeared to be a shade of greenish gold. But the eyes quickly darkened as they registered recognition.   
"Where's Ukyou?" he asked in a clearer voice. "Where's Jiro?"   
Celeane gasped as the young man swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Stay put," she commanded in a shaky voice.   
"I have to find 'em..." he mumbled as he attempted to rise. Ever so quickly, Misha slammed the hypodermic needle into the boy's arm, then held onto him until he dropped into unconsciousness once more.   
Celeane gave a sigh of relief. She gave her confidante a small smile. "So he won't be any trouble?" she asked teasingly.   
"Not at all-- that is once we got him tranquillised." The female special-agent sighed. "The problem is that I have no idea what we are going to do with him once we get home. We can't keep him drugged indefinitely... And he seems more capable than others at shaking off the effects sooner."   
"Leave that to me," replied Celeane with a small smile. "I'll be able to handle him..."   
"I hope you're right," muttered Misha quietly. 

Nabiki Tendou was finishing her tea as her secretary escorted her visitors in. Her face showed none of the surprise that she felt as Ranma Saotome and Jiro Hibiki took the seats in front of her desk.   
"So tell me, Ranma, Jiro-chan, to what do I owe the pleasure...?"   
"Uh, well..." started Ranma.   
"We need a favour, Nabiki-san," stated Jiro.   
Nabiki raised an eyebrow.   
"A favour...?" she asked.   
"Yes, we have to rescue Ryouga-oniichan. He's been kidnapped."   
"Oh?" Nabiki was a little curious but she wanted to get straight to the point.   
"We need a boat," said Ranma.   
"Why come to me?" asked the Tendou sister.   
"Because it is partially your fault that he was kidnapped in the first place." Jiro leaned back and glared at Nabiki over crossed arms. "Some foreign princess fell in love with a certain blonde-hair Japanese boy."   
"Why do you figure that?"   
"Nabiki," said Ranma, "Just lend us a boat so we can go get Ryouga."   
"Not until I hear the whole story."   
So Jiro told the whole story, starting from the first day that Ryouga came home from the Kira-kira no Kamenoke Company with blonde hair. She talked about how women were staring at her brother and making lewd comments. She told about the foreign exchange student who expressed a particular interest in the blonde martial artist. She told about the fierce women in mechanised armour who came, attacked, and left them all unconscious. And she told Nabiki about the note that Princess Celeane left behind, and Ukyou's vow to get him back.   
Nabiki listened to the story with a straight face. To anyone else, the story she just heard would have seem too incredible to believe, but Nabiki Tendou have been a citizen of Nerima as long as she could remember and these kind of events were normal --especially since Ranma Saotome and his father moved into the neighbourhood. She thought about the situation, then she made her decision.   
"Okay, I can provide a boat for you, but I want something in return..."   
Both Jiro and Ranma looked sceptical, but they listened and agreed to the conditions that Nabiki set out. 

Ryouga woke up in a comfortable bed. He sat up and groaned as his head pounded with the worse headache that he had ever encountered. It reminded him of one of the few times that he ever drank--and the hangover that he had to deal with the following morning. He hated that.   
So he sat on the bed, with his head in his hands, waiting for his headache to subside. He thought about where he was and was pretty sure that he was no longer in Ukyou's restaurant. He remembered the women in mechanised armour and the self-indulgent smile of Jiro's classmate, Celeane.   
As soon as the headache eased up enough for him to open his eyes, Ryouga raised his head and took a look around the room that he was staying in. It was huge, with stone walls and floor and expensive looking furniture, paintings and rugs. Through an archway he could see a huge marble bath with deep green tiles and fluffy towels. He was sitting on a four-post bed, with a solid oak posts, and forest green drapes and covers. He idly scratched a bare knee as he tried to locate the door out of the room. He stopped.   
_His bare knee..._   
He looked down at himself and realised that he was wearing nothing but a long green loincloth secured by a gold belt. It just covered the important parts, while leaving his thighs bare.   
He yelped.   
"WHAT THE HELL AM I WEARING?!?"   
"Ah! You're awake!" called out a voice from the previously undiscovered door.   
In a fit of panic, Ryouga yanked to covers of the bed to cover himself, after he was certain that nothing serious was exposed, he looked towards the sound of the voice. A young woman, slightly younger than Jiro with long dark hair, stood at the door. She wore a loose-fitting dress of yellow. It took Ryouga a moment before he recognised the girl as Celeane.   
"You're Jiro's classmate, aren't you?" he asked as he tried to bury himself under the covers of the bed.   
"Was. It was just a cover until I found what I was looking for..." The girl smiled at him   
"Which was...?"   
"You, silly..."   
"Me?!? Why me?" Ryouga was getting confused. Why would anyone be looking for me?   
Celeane walked over to the bed and sat down. "Because you're perfect." She purred as she reached over to touch him lightly on the chest.   
"Perfect?!?" squeaked Ryouga as he pulled away from the girl's overly familiar hand. "I'm not perfect, believe me."   
"But look at you," Celeane exclaimed as she crawled towards her prey. "I've never seen anyone like you before. You're so beautiful."   
Ryouga backed away until he reached the edge of the bed then promptly fell out. "What do you want with me?" he asked from his awkward position from the floor.   
Celeane looked over the edge of the bed down at him. "I'm going to make you my prince."   
"Prince?" squeaked Ryouga again as he pulled the covers down to cover himself from the preying view of the girl.   
"You and I are to be married in three days from now."   
"M-m-married?!?"   
"Of course, why else would anyone look for the perfect man?"   
"But... I'm already engaged--to Ukyou! I can't marry you!"   
Celeane looked confused for a moment.   
"Ukyou?" she asked. "You mean that brown-hair peasant girl with the oversized spatula? You can't be serious."   
Ryouga glared at the ignorant girl. He was more than a little angry at her casual dismissal of Ukyou and his feelings for her. How dare she... just dismiss us like that?!?   
"I am very serious," he said to her. "Who are you to judge?"   
Celeane looked seriously baffled. "B-but she is so ordinary."   
Ryouga gave a lopsided smile. "Ordinary? Not in the least."   
Celeane crossed her arms and frowned. "Well," she said. "It's obvious that I can't talk to you with you like this." She got off the bed and walked to the door. "We'll speak later--at dinner." She walked out and slammed the door behind her. A beautiful picture of a tropical landscape fell off the wall and crashed onto the floor in her wake.   
Figuring that it was safe, Ryouga got off of the floor and brushed himself off. Not that there was much to brush off. He caught a glimpse of himself in a large hanging mirror and shuddered. The loincloth that he was wearing really didn't do much to hide anything, and was barely keeping him modest. His long, still blonde hair was hanging loose down his shoulders. He wore nothing else. He figured that he resembled something from those bad sci-fi movies were the alien queens kept those male concubines. _Not far from the truth, is it, Ryouga?_ he asked himself.   
"Hey!" cried a feminine voice. Ryouga looked towards the direction of the new voice. He found a tall muscular woman standing in another door that appeared to lead outside. She held a type of ceremonial spear, which she gestured, to both the door and to Ryouga with. "Outside," she said.   
"Out...side?" asked Ryouga. "In this?!?" He gestured to his scant covering, while blushing.   
The woman was unsympathetic, but she looked over Ryouga appraisingly. "Now," she said.   
"How do you plan on making me go outside?" he challenged.   
The woman smirked, then whistled. Three other large women who stared at Ryouga's near naked form appraisingly quickly joined her.   
"Well if you want us to haul you outside by force..." the woman leered. Ryouga blushed a deep red, swallowed and made a mad dash through the door, knocking down some of the women in the way.   
He kept running until he reached a small spring, then stopped. He appeared to be in some sort of garden, surrounded by a tall stone wall. Exotic looking flowers and plants grew almost everywhere. Around the perimeter of the garden was a large stonewall, on top of which heavily armored guardswomen kept a constant vigil. He saw the gate, also heavily guarded. Ryouga sighed. He'd love to try and escape, but he knew that there was no way to do it without being seen, there was no chance that he'd be able to get anywhere without getting lost, and there was one more thing as well. _There is no way that I'm going anywhere in this getup._   
Instead, he concentrated on doing his katas. He had trouble doing them at first as his long loincloth kept wrapping around his legs and constricting him. So he tore off a piece of the hem until it reached to his knees instead of his ankles. A strip of the green cloth was used to tie back his hair, and another strip served as a makeshift bandanna. He was only slightly aware of the amused glances of the women, but he made a point of ignoring them as he concentrated on his movements. The sun was hot and the air was very humid, and the spring in the centre of the garden was starting to look inviting. But the last thing that Ryouga wanted was to reveal his curse to the people around him.   
Two hours passed by and Ryouga decided to take a break. He walked to a spot under a tree against the wall and sat down. With all the women watching his every move, he wasn't very concerned about getting lost in the garden at all. He panted a little as he pressed his back to the wall. With the remaining scrap of green cloth, he wiped some of the sweat form his body. The rock wall felt very cool against his back. He pressed his hands against the surface, trying to cool them off and found a hole. Without turning around and attracting anymore attention to himself, he explored the dimensions of it. It was almost large enough for a small pig to fit through it. Ryouga grinned to himself as he started to figure out an escape plan... 

The small speedboat raced through the water towards the island of Fumei. On the deck, four young women stood, drenched by the spray. All four were on the deck for very different reasons. Ranma-chan was up on deck to enjoy the warm breeze and the sea air--something that she never got to do very often. Jiro was up on deck to watch the play of the sea and the spray; she really loved the water. She was practically in her element. Ukyou was on deck focusing on their unseen destination. Everything else went unseen as the young woman thought dark thoughts about the girl who kidnapped her fiancé. Akane was up on deck, leaning over the rail because she was sick. She accidentally ate some of her leftovers before they all boarded and she was regretting the action ever since.   
Ukyou walked up to the captain. "How much longer until we get there?" she asked.   
The captain, an American, scratched his beard before replying. "I really can't say for sure, Kuonji-san," he said in heavily accented Japanese. "It will depend on the tide around the island."   
"The tide?" asked Ukyou blankly. "What do you mean?"   
"There's a large coral reef that surrounds the island. There's only one part that where the bed is low enough for most boats to cross through, and that will be only at high tide. If we try to go in when the tide is too low, the boat will beach on the bed and we will sink. So it doesn't matter when we reached our destination; we can't go in until High Tide."   
"Oh."   
Soon enough, the speedboat reached the tropical island. The tide was apparently low, as the reefs were high up out of the water.   
"Looks like we will have to wait," said the captain. "We'll moor the boat on the other side of the reef and we'll go in at High Tide."   
"When will that be?" asked Ukyou.   
"Sometime tonight."   
Akane groaned from the side of the boat. "Works for me. I can't do anything until my stomach settles anyway."   
Ranma, for once, was wise and kept his mouth shut.   
Ukyou grunted. "I can't wait that long," she complained.   
"Sorry Kuonji-san," replied the captain. "There's nothing I can do about it."   
Ranma then looked to Jiro. "Hey Jiro. You understand this whole thing about tides and water, right?"   
"Yes, I do, Ranma-san," replied the blonde girl in a cheerful voice.   
"So tell me something, since you know about this kinda stuff... Is there a way to get the tides to change?"   
"Nothing practical, I'm afraid."   
"I don't care about practical. How do we do it?"   
"Well," started Jiro, "all we gotta do is move the moon."   
"Huh?"   
"Well, since the tides are caused by the relative position of the moon, if you want the tides to change, you gotta wait until the moon moves."   
"Oh."   
Jiro pulled out a deck of cards from her pocket. "How about a game or two to pass the time until then?"   
"All right," agreed Ranma, "but I have to warn you, I've gotten better."   
Jiro grinned. "Okay Ranma-san, you're on." 

The sun was starting to go down as Ryouga was herded back into the room where he was supposed to be staying. He entered to find that a boy, just a year or so younger than him, was waiting. He had short-cropped brown hair and large grey eyes. He looked at the Lost Boy expectantly.   
Ryouga was at a loss. He didn't know what to say.   
"Uh, hi," he managed at last.   
The young man gave him a welcoming smile. "Hi. You must be Ryouga, right?" His Japanese was oddly accented.   
"Yeah, that's me."   
"I'm Mishon. I've been asked to look after your needs."   
"My needs, huh? What I really need is to get out of here."   
Mishon gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'd love to help you out there, but I'm already in hot water with the Princess as it is."   
Out of idle curiosity, Ryouga asked, "What did you do?"   
The boy blushed. "I, uh, walked into her chambers as she was taking a bath. I didn't mean to --I mean, I was only taking in fresh towels and I thought the place was deserted."   
Ryouga shook his head in sympathy. Mishon shrugged.   
"Anyway, speaking of baths, I'm supposed to make sure that you had yours. This way, please."   
They both went into the tiled chamber with the inset bath. The hot water steamed from the bath and the fluffy green bath towels were still warm. The belt and loincloth barely hit the floor a second before Ryouga hit the water. The bath was fairly deep.   
"I am perfectly capable of taking a bath by myself," commented Ryouga to the assistant when he resurfaced.   
"I know, and I'll leave you be so you can bathe in private. But I'm supposed to let you know that it would be unwise to escape, as there are guardswomen stationed all around this room."   
"Believe me, I'm not about to escape without any decent clothes to wear." Ryouga pointed in disgust at the remains of what he was wearing earlier. "Whose sick idea was that thing, anyhow?"   
"I think it was the Princess'," replied Mishon. "She gets the strangest ideas at times..."   
"I think I've noticed," said Ryouga dryly.   
Mishon left Ryouga to his bath as he went to put some sort of outfit out for the evening. Ryouga shuddered as he conjured up what he thought Celeane's idea of eveningwear might be. He decided to concentrate on scrubbing instead. He looked through the many bottles of shampoo sitting on the ledge of the bath and selected the one that smelled the least flowery. He scrubbed furiously at his scalp, secretly hoping that the blonde colour would come out. But no such luck, his hair was just as blonde as before. Sighing he concentrated on the rest of himself, noticing that his skin was browner than it was before. _Probably due to the lack of sunscreen_, he snorted. _I would've thought that living on an island like this, the people would know about the hazards of sunburns and skin-cancer.._.   
He thought about the hole in the wall and his potential plan of escaping. Fighting his way out was not an option. The guardswomen would overcome him with their sheer numbers and/or knockout gas. He figured that when night fell, he would just escape as P-chan, under the cover of darkness. He would squeeze through the hole. Which was why he spent the rest of the day enlarging the hole by forcing his chi into the rock and forcing the edges to crumble into dust. It was kind of like a 'Bakusai Tenketsu' done on a microscopic scale. He was glad, for once, about his training in stone manipulation using his chi. The hole was almost the right size too; just a little bit more work needed to be done. The challenge was to be able to find the stupid hole in order to finish. That was all. Once he was out, he figured that he could hitch a ride back to Japan or stow away on a boat, or something.   
He ducked under the surface of the water one more time, then climbed out of the bath. Taking a fuzzy green towel of appropriate size, he wrapped it around his waist, then used another one to dry himself. After towelling his hair dry, he started to look for this way out of the bathing area. He was thinking about going through the door next to the window that looked into the garden when Mishon's voice called from another direction.   
"Hey. In here," he said. Ryouga followed the boy's voice into the main bedroom. A girl even younger than Mishon was waiting in the room as well. As a conditioned reflex, Ryouga grabbed the towel that he was wearing with both hands, while blushing furiously.   
"There you are," grinned Mishon as he watched the colour changes in his charge's face. "This is my little sister, Mishelle. The Princess sent her to fix your hair."   
Ryouga just stood still, gasping for air. "M-my hair...?" he asked.   
The young girl curtsied and giggled. "You have to look your best for dinner. The Princess sent me because she seriously doubted that Mishon could style hair properly."   
"Why should I bother?" asked the girl's older brother. "I'll have you know that I happen to like having my hair sticking out all over the place."   
"Exactly."   
"Um..." started Ryouga, breaking up the argument between the two siblings. "Can I get dressed first? In something decent, please?"   
Mishon pointed to a shirt and trousers were laid out on the bed. Everything was in a shade of green. "There you go. Don't take too long in dressing, apparently the Princess is anxious to see you."   
"Can you guys turn around as I get these on?" Ryouga asked as he picked up the trousers.   
Swiftly the two siblings turned around. Ryouga struggled to get into the trousers. After ten minutes of trying to find the proper pant leg to put his feet through, he managed to button them up.   
"What is her interest in me anyway?" he asked Mishon as he pulled the loose fitting shirt over his head.   
"Probably those Japanese shojo mangas. She always expressed an interest in trying to find an actual bishounen. You're probably the closest to the real thing that she's gonna find."   
"Well," said Mishelle with her arms crossed. "A bishounen is what she will get when I'm done with him." She pulled out a comb and adopted a stance that would take no argument. "Now come over here and sit on the bed."   
"Why?" asked Ryouga. He was starting to get very tired of people telling him what to do.   
"I have to brush your hair. You're not about to go in public with your hair a mess like that." The young girl imperiously pointed to the bed. "If I have to, I'll call the palace guards to hold you still. They would probably enjoy that, I think."   
Ryouga snorted, but he went to sit on the bed. He really didn't like the fact that there are little girls with the power to push him around. But as long as he didn't have to face the leering stares of those brute women, he was almost willing to do anything--until he can make good his escape. 

Her Royal Highness, Princess Celeane was sitting in her room wondering about the problems that Ryouga posed before her. He seriously did not want to marry her and that confused her. He had actually professed that his love belonged to the girl named Ukyou, the foul tempered girl who ran the okonomiyaki restaurant. What did that older girl have that she didn't? She really couldn't figure it out.   
A servant entered the room. She was a smaller girl, unlike the elite women who guarded the castle and her person-- even smaller than Misha, but she served just as faithfully.   
"Dinner is almost ready, your Highness," the girl stated.   
"Thank-you. How is our guest faring, Timala?" Celeane was hoping that the older boy had come to his senses by now.   
"He's almost ready for dinner, your Highness."   
"Please tell the chef that I will be down presently."   
The servant girl bowed and left. Celeane went thoughtful. _ Perhaps I can convince dear Ryouga to see things as they should be. I will prove to him that I'm much better than that bad-tempered girl that he is engaged to is, then he will love me instead_. She took a quick glance in the mirror, nodded at her reflection and walked out of the room on her way to dinner. 

The captain started the motor just after the moon started to rise. The roar seemed extremely loud after a day of nothing of but the sounds of birds, surf and the moan of Ranma losing to Jiro. Ukyou stood in anticipation of reaching land.   
"We're ready to go, Kuonji-san," said the captain. "It won't be long now..."   
"Good," she replied.   
Ranma-kun was busy at the stern, putting his clothes back on. According to the rules that Jiro had presented, he was to remove one article of clothing each time he lost. He had lost his game against Jiro repeatedly-- in fact, every time. They had stopped playing when Ranma was left wearing only his boxers.   
"I thought you said that you have gotten better, Ranma-san," Jiro stated innocently. "Did you lie?"   
"He did get better," laughed Akane. "He held out in each game for about 45 seconds. He used to only last for about 30."   
Jiro laughed and even Ukyou chuckled. She partly wanted to yell at them to be more serious, but at the same time, she was glad that they weren't overly tense. _We're coming, Ryo-chan_, she thought, _just wait there and don't get lost._   
The boat moved smoothly through the water into the breach in the coral reef. Ukyou could see some lights from what appeared to be a small town and even more from what appeared to be some sort of castle. She figured that the castle would be the most likely place for Ryouga to be. As much as she would like to just bust in, wreck the place and just grab Ryouga on the way out, just to teach that snotty little princess a thing or two, she realised that such an action would be stupid, especially with the guards, the technology and the fact that she had no idea where her fiancé would be.   
She figured that some intelligence would be in order.   
"Jiro-chan?" she asked. "What can you tell me about this Celeane?"   
Jiro, whose back was facing Ranma, looked thoughtful. "I really can't tell you much, Ukyou. All I know are the rumours that went around the classroom and the things that I noticed myself."   
"Maybe it will be enough."   
"Well... The gossip went that Celeane was a girl who had everything, and although she wouldn't brag about it, it was fairly obvious. Everyone knew about the bodyguards-- or at least the rumour of them, whether they believed it or not."   
"Go on..."   
"I noticed that she seemed to be real educated too. I mean, she's only fifteen years old and she was in the seniors' class. And the other thing that I noticed was that she seemed to always expect things to go her way, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if she always got what she want."   
"You honestly think that, Jiro-chan?"   
"Yes, it is."   
Ukyou grunted. It wasn't much information to base a plan around, but it was a start.   
"So she always expects to get her own way..." she mused. "That can be helpful to know later on."   
"But how are we going to get in?" asked Akane.   
"We'll figure that out when we get on shore."   
"Right." Akane nodded. 

Ryouga squirmed under the careful, but firm administrations of the young girl, Mishelle. They were both sitting on the huge bed. She had been brushing Ryouga's hair for more than ten minutes, and he was starting to lose patience.   
"How much longer?!?" he asked in an exasperated voice.   
"Relax," replied the girl in a soothing voice. "We'll be done in a moment." Ryouga heard the girl put the hairbrush down.   
"Finally." He was starting to feel ridiculous. "I feel like a doll."   
"Just one more thing..." Mishelle was placing something on Ryouga's head. It felt like a narrow metal band. She adjusted it until it seemed to suit her. "There."   
Ryouga reached up and felt a large gemstone. "What's this?"   
"Leave that be!" snapped Mishelle. "You'll mess up your hair!"   
"Poor guy..." commented Mishon from the sidelines. "Why can't you girls leave him be?"   
"What do you mean?" asked the younger sibling.   
"I think that Ryouga had the right picture. Between you and the Princess, you both are treating him like some sort of doll." Ryouga glared at the servant boy. "Well, it's true."   
"Thanks a lot..." grumbled Ryouga.   
"Let's go," said Mishelle, as she pulled the blonde hair boy off the bed. "The Princess is waiting."   
"Coming." Let's go see how else her highness could humiliate me, he thought. He passed the mirror without looking in its surface. _No point in upsetting myself yet_. 

When the boat landed on the shore, four dark shadows leapt from it onto the shore. Those shadows then made a beeline for the trees. Everything was perfectly silent for a moment, and then the boat backed up, turned around and went back the way it came, putting quietly. Everything was quiet once more.   
"So," asked Ranma, "what do we do now?"   
"We go rescue Ryouga," replied Ukyou simply.   
"How are we suppose to do that?" asked Akane.   
"Uh..." Ukyou was at a loss.   
"We're gonna have to find a way to infiltrate the castle up on the hill," commented Jiro.   
"Okay. But how are we gonna do that?" asked Ranma.   
"I don't know yet, but..." Jiro's voice trailed off as she strained to hear something. Holding her finger up in a 'just-a-sec' kind of way, she got up and walked over a couple of feet to a cluster of bushes. She tried peering into the leaves. "Who's in there?" she demanded.   
"Don't hurt me," whimpered a small voice. A young woman crawled out of the bushes, and stood up. She was about as tall as Jiro and wearing some sort of armour. "Please don't report me..." she pleaded, with the tall blonde girl.   
"Who are you?" asked Jiro softly. She hated to see people cry. "Why are you hiding?"   
"I'm Urma," the girl sniffled. "I'm a trainee in the Palace Guards." She was a tall girl; about 17 years old, with short, curly brown hair and grey eyes. She might have been described as pretty, except her eyes were red from crying, her hair was matted and full of twigs and she held herself in shame.   
Akane joined Jiro at her side. "Why are you crying?" she asked.   
"I-I had to get away. The senior officers are so mean. They demand so much. I can't take it anymore, so I ran away. I'm so scared that they would find me..."   
Ranma joined the other two. "What would they do if they found you?" he asked.   
Urma looked at the handsome young man in front of her. She wiped her eyes and straightened up. "They would make an example of me. Examples are usually humiliating. I knew a girl who ran off and was caught. She was marched up to the town square naked, then whipped in public." The fear in her eyes intensified. "I can't have that happen to me..."   
"Man..." sympathised Ranma. "That's rough."   
Urma looked at Ranma in appraisal. "Are you taken?" she asked.   
Ranma blushed and Akane pulled him to her side.   
"He's my husband," she said to the girl in an even voice.   
The big girl blushed. "Sorry."   
"What kind of things do the senior officers want you to do?" asked Jiro.   
"Well, earlier today, the Princess came back with a young man. He was so beautiful. I never seen anyone like him."   
Ukyou, who was just listening a few feet away, came closer and looked at the refugee with a fiery intensity. The girl stopped talking and looked at Ukyou.   
"Go on," said the okonomiyaki chef.   
"I was on duty at the time and my captain, who just returned with the princess, commanded me to help get the young man undressed."   
"Say what?!?" Ukyou shrieked.   
"But I couldn't do it!" wailed Urma. "It didn't seem right. So my captain said that she would talk with me later. And she hits her subordinates-- she put at least six into the infirmary that I've heard of. I had to run away."   
"Couldn't you stand up to her?" asked Ranma.   
"Not without getting in worse trouble." Urma shook her head.   
"Is your captain the short woman who wears the trench coat?" asked Ukyou.   
"No. That's General Misha. She's the Princess' right-hand woman. She's great, but she doesn't have enough authority to discipline my captain. That's suppose to be the Princess' job, but she always seems too busy to notice."   
"You're awfully trusting to a bunch of strangers," commented Ukyou suspiciously. "How come?"   
"I heard you saying that you were trying to sneak into the palace to go rescue the young man. I remember the Princess calling him 'Ryouga'. The Princess shouldn't have brought him here. So, I guess I can help you. It doesn't seem right."   
"Do you know of a way in?" asked Akane.   
Urma nodded. "I can show you."   
"Why are you doing this --really?" asked Ukyou.   
"Well, I don't think that kidnapping is the way to acquire a husband. I am sort of ashamed of our Princess. Besides," here, Urma winked, "it is the captain that is in charge of guarding him. If the man she is suppose to be watching disappears, she will be reprimanded. Those who receive the Princess' displeasure, are usually stuck doing the most humiliating things that she can think of. She'll be in disgrace. That's a good enough reason for me. So I'll help you."   
The group stared at the palace turncoat.   
"Just, please, don't tell them it was me."   
Ukyou was pleased. Finally, they were getting somewhere.   
_Hang in there, Ryo-chan, we're coming_. 

* * *

_What do you think of the story so far? Please email all C&C's to [nikiparadis@hotmail.com][1]. Thanks for taking the time to read this._

_Illustrations to this story as well as the others can be found in Iikiba's Photo Album ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html][2])._   
_Please visit my page: The Crossroads ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/][3]) A site dedicated to Ryouga Hibiki, anime's favourite Lost Boy._

   [1]: mailto:nikiparadis@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html
   [3]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/



	4. Another Switch in the Roles

**The Thing About Blondes**   
_Niki "NeeP" Paradis_   
**Chapter Four: Another Switch in the Roles**

A suspicious group of five people were heading towards the palace. It was dark and the island's native trees and bushes made it difficult to see any of the five people at all. If anyone did see and was asked about the group, the witness would only be able to say that the group consisted of four women and a man, and that two of the women were as tall as the palace guards were.   
Jiro adjusted the strap of her borrowed armour. "I hope his works," she muttered to Ukyou.   
"Well, Jiro-chan," said Ukyou, "with the island on the lookout for Urma or at least, a runaway recruit, it seems only natural that you should wear the uniform."   
"Yeah," commented the native girl. "By now, the whole platoon should have been a description of me. But they won't recognise me out of the amour." Urma picked self-consciously at the sleeveless shirt that she borrowed from Jiro. "And most of the officers don't really pay attention to the actual recruits. So, you're probably safer in the uniform than out of it. No one really sees the person past the uniform and without it, it's pretty obvious that you're not a native."   
"Okay, if you say so..."   
"Besides, the helmet will hide your ears," said Ukyou.   
"And I doubt that anyone will notice the umbrella," Akane tried to say convincingly.   
"You really think so?" asked the tall blonde girl, fingering the strap to her umbrella holster.   
"Not in the dark at any rate," Ranma put in his two cents. 

Soon they reached the servants' entrance to the palace grounds. Like everywhere else that they have seen, a woman in amour also guarded it.   
"Who goes there?!?" barked the woman.   
"Hey," whispered Jiro. "What do I say?"   
"Tell her that you were out looking for me," whispered the runaway. "And don't forget to say, Ma'am."   
"This is recruit, Jilla," said Jiro confidently, "Ma'am. Returning from the search for Recruit Urma. Ma'am."   
"Who are those with you?" commanded the guardswoman.   
Akane, Ukyou, Ranma and Urma started to sweat.   
"These are the relations and friends of Recruit Urma. Ma'am. Captain Josi wanted them brought in for questioning. Ma'am."   
The woman nodded. "Very well, take them in, put them under guard."   
"Yes Ma'am," said Jiro. "Move!" she barked to her 'prisoners'.   
They marched through the gate, past the guardswoman and into the back door of the castle. Akane was wide-eyed at the thought of what just happened.   
"We made it through..." she said in a hushed voice.   
"But we haven't found Ryo-chan yet," muttered Ukyou.   
"Y'know, this might be a good time to split up," suggested Jiro. "Soon, everyone will be onto us. We won't have much time."   
"Good point," Ranma replied. "Where do you think it would be most likely for Ryouga to be right now?" he asked Urma.   
The native girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "He would most likely be either in the rooms where the Princess placed him or at the banquet that was to be held in his honour."   
Ranma nodded. "Okay then. I guess you should go with Jiro and Ucchan up to uh, where ever the banquet's bein' held, and Akane and me will go look for P-chan in his room..."   
Akane effectively placed a well-aimed punch to the side of her husband's head. "Stop calling him that, you baka," she muttered.   
The two groups went their separate ways. 

It was dinnertime. The tables were set with the largest banquet that Misha has ever seen. It was obvious to her that the princess really wanted to impress that Japanese boy that they had brought to the Island of Fumei. Celeane had brought in the island's finest musicians to play traditional music--which combined an African tribal beat with the guitars and flutes of Spanish dance tunes. The dining hall was decorated with flowers and silk. There hasn't been such a large celebration since the Princess' birth.   
Unfortunately, it was obvious that the young man didn't want to be there and he didn't really seem to notice anything but the huge roast pig that was at the centre of the banquet table, and that appeared to make him sick.   
Misha studied the foreigner. Aside from the greenish cast to his face, the young man could be considered extremely handsome. He was tall and muscular; which would definitely mark him a worthwhile conquest for any woman on the island. With serious hazel eyes, delicately pointed ears, and actual fangs, he would have been considered a definite catch for any of the noblewomen. But the blonde hair made him exquisite. It was obvious that the princess was working on his appearance as well. His originally pale golden skin had darkened into a deep golden brown, and his once straight blonde hair was already curling due to the island's humidity. When he came, the young man was wearing well-worn travelling clothes-- an old tunic and tattered leggings. Now, he was wearing the baggy pants and loose shirt that the people of the island would wear for festivals. Instead of the ugly mustard yellow that he wore before, his new outfit was done in various shades of green and it set off his thick blonde hair very nicely. On his head was a golden circlet with an emerald set in front, marking him as one of the princess' favourites.   
As the General of the Royal Guards, Misha knew that it was her duty to oversee the safety of the Princess as she was sworn to do. But she had to admit to herself that the Princess' wild ideas and romantic notions made the job extremely difficult. Not to mention that it made it extremely difficult for her to personally oversee the troops that she commanded. She knew that many of the people were not ecstatic about the thought of the princess marrying a foreigner and that they felt that she was not paying enough attention to the problems of her people. Misha agreed with the people over Celeane's neglect, but it was still her job to protect her charge. 

Ryouga Hibiki was not a happy person.   
First off, he felt ridiculous. He was the main guest at a banquet held in his honour. The other people, who he suspected, were members of the Royal Court or something similar, were all looking at him in curiosity. He also noticed that the majority of the other people were women, and their gaze reminded Ryouga that he was a sort of prize that they would never get a hold of. It was upsetting to be looked on as an object, instead of a person   
From casual observation, he noticed that Fumei was a matriarchal society, which meant that the men were second class citizens. It was the woman who was expected to earn the money, to make the top decisions, to succeed at their jobs and to acquire trophy husbands if the occasion required it. It was unnerving, especially since Japan (as well as most of the other countries that he ever visited) was still pretty much a patriarchal society, even though women were more equal there than the men were in this country.   
He decided to concentrate on following Celeane instead. Not that he wanted to go with her, but he decided that the last thing that he wanted right about now was to get lost. The princess led him over to a seat at the main banquet table and gestured for him to sit down. He did so, his eyes locked on the huge roast pig that laid on a huge platter in a very cliché manner --complete with an apple in its mouth. His stomach turned and he had to look away.   
He turned to the wall behind him. It was extensively mirrored and he reasoned that the mirrors were there to give the illusion that the main hall was even larger than it already was. He saw his reflection in it and flinched at the strangeness of it. But he forced himself to study the changes.   
The reflection that stared back at him was that of a well-built young man of nineteen years with Asian features and hazel eyes. That was where the familiarity ended. The person in the mirror had deeply tanned skin and thick long blonde hair that hung loose down his back. It was to Ryouga's dismay that the hair was starting to curl. He figured that it was probably due to the island's humidity, but it was curling faster than it really ought to be. The figure in the mirror was also wearing a loose sleeveless forest green shirt and baggy pants of an even darker green. On his head was a simple gold circlet with a single emerald set in the front. Around his neck were simple gold chokers, layered for effect. And on his feet were simple sandals of green and gold.   
All in all, there was a stranger in the mirror. Ryouga sighed bitterly. _The more mirrors that I encounter, the less I recognise myself in them_, he thought to himself.   
He turned back to the table and concentrated on watching his plate. He wondered briefly if anyone was coming after him --as embarrassing as that would be (He's the guy, after all, dammit. He was supposed to do the rescuing, not the other way around.). Hopefully, Jiro would be on her way --that is, if she knew where he has been taken. He had doubted that Ukyou would be able to get away from her business to come after him --after all, the business was everything to her. He closed his eyes briefly and concentrated on finding a chi pattern that he could recognise. He gave up shortly after that. There were too many strange people near-by and he was nowhere as good at 'Tracking' as Jiro was. He wondered again about how he was going to get out of his present situation. 

Ranma and Akane were searching through the rooms of the guest wing. Most of the rooms were unoccupied and the ones that weren't didn't have Ryouga in them either. After a few embarrassed apologies and having a pillow or two thrown at him, Ranma was wondering if there might be an easier way to go about their search. He leaned against a wall and watched Akane open a smaller door in the main hall.   
"I really don't think that you'll find even Ryouga in a closet, Akane," he said. "Even if he got into one it won't take him long to find his way back out." Ranma paused for a moment. "Then again, we are talking about Ryouga here..."   
"Shut-up, baka," muttered Akane as she began to pull out various items from the closet.   
"Whatcha got there?" asked Ranma curiously.   
"Ryouga-kun's stuff. His clothes are all here, and even his backpack."   
"Oh? No Ryouga?"   
"No."   
"No P-chan either?"   
"No!" Akane threw one of the shoes she found at the smug-looking face of her husband. Ranma caught it easily. "Now, you can carry Ryouga-kun's pack."   
Ranma swallowed. "His pack?" he asked.   
"Of course, baka. You don't really expect me to carry it, do you?"   
Ranma walked up to the closet and looked in at the huge backpack.   
"Do you know how heavy that thing is?" he asked.   
"What's the matter, Ranma?" Akane mocked. "Not strong enough? Ryouga-kun carries it around all the time. Even Jiro can pick it up."   
Ranma clamped his mouth shut. _Ryouga's way stronger than me_, was one thing he did _not_ say, not wanting his wife to think of him as a wimp. _And Jiro's almost as strong as him_, was the other thing he did _not_ say, for the same reason, only more so. He bent over and heaved the backpack on, complete with two tonne (or so it seemed to Ranma) umbrella. He stood straight and concentrated on making the carrying of the backpack look easy. Apparently it worked, because Akane didn't notice the difficulties.   
"Let's keep going," suggested Akane as she continued down the hall. Ranma nodded and managed not to stumble as he followed. 

Ukyou, Jiro and Urma reached the balcony that overlooked the reception hall where the guests were all being served.   
"I really can't accompany you any further," said the native girl regretfully. "If I show up in there, regardless of whether or not I'm wearing my uniform..."   
"I understand, Urma-san. Thank-you," Jiro said softly.   
"Yes, thank-you," Ukyou smiled at the big girl. "You've been a big help."   
The ex-recruit quickly left the other girls and disappeared into the shadows.   
Both Jiro and Ukyou watched her go, then turned back to the balcony. They crept up to the rail and peered over it.   
"Do you see him yet, Ukyou?" asked Jiro.   
"No... Not yet... Wait! I think I see him!" Ukyou sounded astonished. "That's Ryouga?" Anger then crept into her voice. "What did that _bitch_ do to him?!?"   
"Hmmm?" asked Jiro. She looked around the room until she saw her brother. She had trouble recognising the young man with the blonde curls and tan as Ryouga. But the ears helped identify him. "If you mean about the greenish cast to his face, that probably has to do with the pork in the middle of the banquet table."   
"He looks so miserable, Jiro. Even though he did get a very nice tan..." Ukyou's voice went thoughtful.   
"Hey, Ukyou! Looks like Celeane-kun is about to make a statement..."   
"Oh?"   
They watched as the princess stood up and tapped her glass with a fork. The whole room went quiet.   
"My people," she started. "I have a very important announcement to make."   
Jiro and Ukyou concentrated on the princess' words.   
"First, I'd like to introduce you all to Ryouga Hibiki." Celeane gestured to the blonde young man beside her. "In two days from now, we will be married and Ryouga will become my Royal Consort."   
Ukyou shot straight up, compromising the cover that the balcony provided. "**WHAT?!?**" she shrieked. She clambered onto the balcony railing, and leaped for a previously unnoticed rope that hung from the ceiling that supported the chandelier that was suspended over the main banquet table. She swung the handle of her oversized spatula over the rope and used it to ride the rope's length down to the main floor. Before she collided into the chandelier, she let go, somersaulted and landed on the banquet table, each foot planted on either side of the roast pig.   
"**THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT YOU'RE GONNA MARRY MY RYO-CHAN!!!**" she shouted to the shocked face of the island princess.   
Jiro looked down at what just transpired. There was only one thing that she could think of that summarised the present situation.   
"_Kuso..._" she mumbled under her breath before she scrambled back into the hall.   


"Ukyou?" asked Ryouga in a very small disbelieving voice. "Is that really you?"   
Ukyou turned away from the island princess and smiled at him. "Who else could I be, you pig-headed fool?" she asked. "I haven't changed. You're the one who looks different."   
"Hehe..." Ryouga chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, self-consciously. He quickly revised his prievious belief about where the restaurant stood in Ukyou's priorities.   
Celeane, who was used to being the centre of attention, jumped up on the table to face the okonomiyaki chef.   
"How the hell did you get in here?!?" she demanded.   
"I flapped my arms and flew here, sugar," snorted Ukyou. "I came here by boat, how else do you think?!?"   
"Are you mocking me?"   
"_Hell no_," mocked Ukyou. "Why would I want to do something like that?"   
"Girls?" interjected Ryouga.   
"Not now, Ryo-chan," muttered his fiancee. "Miss Uppity Princess and I are about to have a few words..."   
"Sorry, Ryouga-dear. I have to teach this upstart of a commoner some manners."   
Ryouga tore his gaze away from the potential 'Cat Fight a la Royal' to the surrounding female guards. He saw the small woman, Misha, at the head of them, still wearing her trench coat.   
"Um, girls?" Ryouga tried again.   
"**NOT NOW!!!**" shouted both women at once.   
Ryouga slumped back into his seat. He really wanted to leave but didn't want to lose Ukyou and he really didn't want to get lost in the huge castle. "I tried to stop them," he muttered to the General of the Guard.   
"**Freeze!**" shouted Misha. Both Island princess and okonomiyaki chef froze before attacking each other. They turned to face the diminutive woman. Pleased to have got the ladies' attention, she gestured to the guards. Two large women grabbed and yanked Ukyou off of the table.   
"Hey!" shouted Ryouga.   
"Whadda ya doin'?!?" shrieked Ukyou.   
"No one attacks the princess while I'm on duty," growled the small woman. "What shall I do with her, your Highness?"   
Celeane stood shocked for a moment, and then she regained her composure. She assumed a more regal stance, despite the fact that her foot was sitting in the punch bowl. "Throw her in the dungeon! After the wedding is completed, I'll decide what to do with her."   
"No! Wait!" begged Ryouga. "Can't we talk about this?"   
Celeane ignored him.   
"Do it!" she commanded her guards.   
"Yes, Your Highness," replied Misha as she commanded three of the women to take Ukyou away. Ryouga tried to get up to help his fiancee, but strong hands from behind kept him in his chair. A hand came in front of his face and flashed a knife before it.   
"You will stay where you are, pretty boy..." said a husky female voice.   
Ryouga swallowed, wondering if he could disarm the threatening woman before she can cut him.   
"Josi! You will leave him be!" Celeane's voice snapped from above. Ryouga looked up, and saw the island princess glare down over his head at the knife holder. She was still standing on the table, but now, her foot was out of the punch bowl. Ukyou was gone from the hall already.   
"But he might be a threat..." The knife came closer to his nose.   
"Josi. Now." Celeane's voice broke no argument.   
"Yes, your Highness," replied the low voice from behind him. "It will be as you say." The voice did not hold the proper tone of obedience, but the knife (and hand) disappeared from in front of Ryouga's face.   
"This dinner is officially over," commanded the princess. "I will leave you to finish your eating," she said to the nobles (who thought at first the goings on were some sort of dinner entertainment, then decided that it was just as good as dinner entertainment). "Let's go, Ryouga-dear." She jumped off of the table, grabbed Ryouga by his arm and hauled him out of the dining room. Misha followed them closely. 

Jiro watched as Celeane and her chief officer went down the hall with her brother. She saw Ukyou being dragged out of the Banquet hall earlier and she had no doubts where Ukyou was headed. It was Ryouga that she was concerned about at the moment. She figured that if she acted like she was guarding the entry of the hall like she belonged there, nobody would really notice her.   
"You there!" commanded The diminutive Misha.   
So much for nobody noticing her.   
"Yes, ma'am?" The best she could do to protect herself was to play the soldier girl role to the hilt.   
"Assist me in escorting the princess and her guest. And it's 'General'. Don't slip up again."   
"Yes, General. Sorry, General." Jiro fell in behind the small group. It was apparent that Ryouga was too occupied to notice her voice and too distressed to register her chi-pattern, even at the close range. Which really didn't matter, she figured. The main thing was that she was there, in case the proverbial fertiliser should hit the proverbial fan.   
She watched as her brother dragged the princess to a halt, and started to demand answers from her.   
"Where is Ukyou?" he demanded. "What have you done with her?"   
"She'll be safe in the dungeon, Ryouga-dear, no one will hurt her. I promise. She will even be released in a couple of days --after we're married, of course."   
Ryouga became like the cornerstone of a building. He wouldn't budge. "I keep telling you, I am engaged to Ukyou. I can't marry you!"   
"We'll talk about it once we're out of the hallways."   
"..." The young man refused to move, so Celeane was forced to drag him along with her.   


Ranma and Akane were in a long corridor when they heard the sounds of somebody coming. Looking for a place to hide, they realised too late that there were no doors that they could have ducked into. Instead, they decided to defend themselves if the need arise.   
A young man and a young girl came down the hallway, chuckling and commenting about something. But they talked lowly and neither Ranma nor Akane could understand the words. Both were carrying clean towels.   
The boy looked up and saw them. The young married couple tensed but, instead of attacking, the young man called to them cheerfully.   
"Hi! You two are the new servants?" he asked.   
"Servants?!" Ranma asked indignantly. Akane stomped on his foot and Ranma shut his mouth before anything else could be said.   
"Yes, we are," said Akane sweetly, pulling off her best Kasumi act. "We're not sure where we are, though. Is the clean laundry supposed to go this way?"   
"Nope! That way is the laundry room. Actually you're supposed to be going the other way."   
"Oh my, really?" Akane smiled. "I'm so embarrassed."   
"Hey. Doesn't those items belong to the princess' guest?" asked the young girl.   
The boy looked and nodded. "I think you're right, Mishelle. That is Ryouga's stuff."   
"We were told that we were supposed to place this in the guest's room," supplied Ranma. "But I'm afraid that neither of us know where it is."   
"No problem," said the young man. "I'll show you. I've been assigned to tend to tend to her Highness' royal guest."   
"Thank-you," said Akane gratefully.   
"Yeah, thanks," Ranma said honestly.   
"I'm Mishon. This is my younger sister, Mishelle."   
"Pleased to meet you both."   
"I'm Ranma, this is Akane," Ranma said without saying.   
"Those are not Fumeinian names," commented Mishelle.   
"Baka!" muttered Akane as she shoved an elbow into Ranma's gut.   
"They sound Japanese, actually," the young girl continued.   
"We're immigrants?" suggested Ranma hopefully.   
"Oh, I get it," Mishon. "You're here to rescue him. Aren't you?"   
"Uh..."   
"I thought so." Mishon shook his head, yet grinned.   
"Shouldn't try to stop them?" asked Mishelle to her older brother conversationally.   
"I don't know, the poor guy is upset," replied the older boy. "He's being forced into a marriage that he really doesn't want, and I understand that his fiancee from Japan has just been thrown into the dungeon."   
"Ukyou is in the dungeon?" asked Akane.   
"Why is she there?" asked Ranma.   
"She interrupted the banquet that was being held in Ryouga's honour. Apparently she insulted the Princess in the process," the boy said.   
"So will you help us get to Ryouga-kun?" asked Akane eagerly.   
"I can't do very much," said the girl, Mishelle. "But I won't turn you in."   
Ranma and Akane blinked. "Why are you helping us?" asked Ranma.   
"Won't you get in trouble with your princess?" asked Akane.   
"Yeah, but I'm a believer in true love," she said with a sigh. "A girl comes to a foreign land to rescue her sweetheart. Those make the best stories. But I have to be careful or I WILL get in trouble with the Princess."   
"I can show you to the room he's staying in," said Mishon, "but not much more."   
"Thank-you," replied Akane.   
"Yeah, thanks guys." Ranma would be relieved to return the backpack to its proper owner. 

Soon the royal entourage reached the door of the room that Ryouga was staying in. Celeane commanded the cadet and her general to stand guard outside the door as she took her guest inside. She shut the door behind them and turned to face the young man that she was determined to marry.   
"What is your problem?!?" she demanded.   
"What do you mean 'what is my problem'?" Ryouga asked Celeane coldly. "You take me from my home, dress me in the most ridiculous outfits, you're trying to force me to marry you despite everything I say, and now you have just thrown my fiancee, the woman I love, into the dungeon and you ask me 'what is my problem'? **_What do you think my problem is?!?_**" He shouted the last accusation.   
"But she is just a peasant! You can't mean to marry her!"   
The beautiful young man trembled in rage. He yanked the gold circlet off of his head and threw it at the solid stone wall. Instead of clanging off of the wall and falling onto the wall, it became imbedded. The princess' eyes opened wide at the display of strength. Ryouga turned back to her, his usually warm eyes were as dark and cold as stone, his face was red under the tan.   
"I. Will. Not. Marry. You." The voice was flat and emotionless.   
"Why not?" she asked, refusing to lose the battle. 

Misha was standing guard outside the room with a new recruit that she didn't have the opportunity to make acquaintance with yet. But she knew that duty was duty, and there will be time for introductions later-- when the girl was off duty. She studied the young woman discretely, almost swearing that she looked familiar. Then there was the umbrella that was strapped to the recruit's back. Misha was certain that the huge blue umbrella was regulation issue... Heck, umbrellas were never a part of the uniform. The small woman figured that the poor girl was performing some sort of initiation ritual that her unit put her up to. Why else would anyone be wearing an umbrella?   
The girl appeared to be oblivious to the subtle scrutiny and seemed to be concentrating on listening for something. The small general thought momentarily about reprimanding her, but thought against it. After all, the new recruit was probably trained to listen for any kind of threat that could be present, either in the hallway where she was standing or in the room behind her that she was guarding.   
But the girl seemed to be taking the listening a little too seriously. The wall behind them was solid stone and the door was solid oak. Misha figured that a person would have to have incredibly sensitive hearing to make out any sound at all. She wondered if the girl heard something that she couldn't, and if so, if it was cause for alarm. She tried to listen for whatever it was that the girl was listening for.   
Then she heard the new recruit murmur something.   
"_Calm down, Oniichan. You won't solve anything that way._"   
Misha's head snapped around to look at the girl on the opposite side of the door. "Is there a problem, recruit?" she asked.   
"No! No, General," the girl stammered. "I all of a sudden thought of a friend that I knew. It won't happen again."   
The small woman grunted. "See that it don't." 

"Why not?" asked Celeane, refusing to lose the battle.   
"You don't get it, do you?" Ryouga asked in an exasperated voice. "I don't love you. I don't even respect you. You treat people as playthings. And you always want your way. Life doesn't work that way. Don't you understand that?!?"   
"I am the Princess of Fumei. My word is law, the people know that!" Celeane was confused. This young man was challenging the way things were. He just wouldn't go along with what she wanted, the way everyone else did. She found the situation frustrating.   
Apparently so did Ryouga. He clenched his fist, and he looked like he was about to hit her. But he stopped and cocked his head to the side as if he heard something. He lowered his hand and gave her a cold smile.   
"Your people may listen to you and do what you say out of fear," he said, "but they don't respect you. Some ruler you'll make. You're too damn self absorbed." He snorted. "I bet you're not even aware of anything that happens in your own kingdom."   
"How dare you?!?" she shouted. "You don't even know how things work! You don't have the right to make accusations!" She turned around and marched to the door. "I'll give you one day to change your mind, she called back into the room. Good night!" She slammed the door. She gestured to the recruit still standing at the door. "Stay here and guard this door," she commanded.   
"Yes, your Highness," replied the tall girl.   
"Misha! Come with me."   
"Yes, Princess."   
Not looking to see if the recruit did or did not do as she asked, Celeane stomped off. 

Ranma and Akane, with the help of the two siblings, were on their way to the guest wing of the palace. Ranma was still struggling with the heavy backpack, but he was keeping his mouth shut.   
"Where is P-chan's room, anyway?" he asked.   
"Who's P-chan?" asked Mishon. "I thought you were going after Ryouga."   
"Ignore the baka," commented Akane. "It's what he calls Ryouga-kun."   
"It's what you called him too, for two years, Akane." Ranma received an Akane-special to the skull, courtesy of Akane's inter-dimensional mallet.   
"Don't even start there, Ranma." Akane returned her mallet to its inter-dimensional pocket.   
There was a sound of footsteps coming from the direction that they were heading.   
"Someone's coming," said Mishelle.   
They took refuge behind a large column and waited. Ranma took a peek around the column and saw the small woman in the trench coat walking with a young girl with long black hair.   
"I don't care if she a girl," growled Ranma. "I want to get even with her for humiliating me like that."   
"You can't," hissed Mishon. "You hit the Princess, Misha will kill you!"   
"The princess is the one in the coat?" asked Akane.   
"No," said Mishelle. "The princess is the girl with the long black hair."   
"The girl in the trench-coat is our big sister, Misha," whispered Mishon. "She's in command of the guards, and she's real protective of the Princess."   
"Well, I have a score to settle with your big sister," Ranma muttered.   
"Shhh!" hissed the others.   
They watch the two young women until they disappeared into another hall.   
"They must've left Ryouga in his room," suggested Mishon. "Let's get going." 

Ryouga waited until he was certain that Celeane and her hench-woman were gone. Then he walked over and opened the door. Jiro grinned at him from the other side of the doorway.   
"Hey, Jiro," he greeted. "You came too?"   
"Yep." His younger sister grinned back at him. "How's it going Oniichan?" She came into the room, shut the door and took off her helmut.   
"I want to get out of here so badly, it hurts." Ryouga sighed.   
"And you have only been here for just a day? And you're sick of the place already?" Jiro teased him. "You had time to work on your tan, it seems."   
"Well, the service is lousy, and the island appears to be run by a crazy-woman."   
"I think I have noticed." Jiro walked up to Ryouga and gave him a hug. "I'm glad to see that you're okay. You really did get a nice tan, I don't see any tan lines or nothing."   
"Yeah, thanks. Just don't asked how I came by it."   
The two separated and Jiro's voice went serious. "Ukyou was so worried."   
"Yeah and she got thrown into the dungeon too." Ryouga sighed.   
"Do you think she's in danger?"   
Ryouga shook his head. "No, not immediately. She's safe there for another day or so."   
"Okay. How are you doing, then?"   
"I am so hungry. I was about to eat at the banquet, but Ukyou showed up, and Celeane had her arrested and dragged me out of there."   
"Oh, yeah."   
The two stared at each other.   
"Are you here to rescue me?"   
"Sorta."   
"I did have a plan of escape in progress, you know."   
Jiro was struggling to keep from raising her eyebrow. "You did?" she asked.   
"There's a hole in the garden wall, that I've been enlarging. It's almost big enough for P-chan to squeeze through."   
"Really?" asked Jiro. "And how did you plan on finding this hole again, Oniichan?"   
Ryouga's face fell. "Not much of a plan then, was it?" he asked.   
"It would've been a great plan, if you had a sense of direction, that is."   
"Thanks..." Ryouga growled.   
"And besides, did you look outside?" The tall blonde girl pointed out of the window.   
Ryouga looked out. The garden was filled with female guards. He was certain that there were more out there than there were earlier.   
"Why do you think there are more guards out there?" he asked.   
"Probably because everyone knows that there are intruders here to rescue you. So they had to increase the security."   
"Oh..." 

Celeane was growling as she stomped off to her rooms. Misha was tailing behind.   
"Princess?" asked the head of the palace security.   
"What is it, Misha?" asked the island princess.   
"Wouldn't it be easier for you to let this Ryouga go and find yourself another young man?"   
"Why do you think that?" asked Celeane.   
"He's seems to be more trouble than he's worth. Already the girl from the restaurant showed up to claim him. Who else is here, that we don't know about."   
"I think you worry too much, Misha. I trust that you'll find the rest of the intruders --if there are more people to be found. As for Ryouga-dear, I'm certain that I can bring him around to my way of thinking."   
"If you're certain, princess..." Misha seemed uncertain, herself. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go arrange teams to go search for the others."   
"As you will," dismissed the princess casually. "And thanks for being concerned, Misha. I may not say it often enough, but I do appreciate all that you do around here."   
"Thank-you, your Highness." Misha turned and walked off.   
Celeane watched as her confidant went off then returned to her grousing. _That man has no idea how things work around here_, she grumbled. _If he won't change his mind for me, I'm sure that his little spatula-girl can help me change it for him. _ Then she sighed. _But that won't work, really. I'd rather that he loved me than hate me._   
She opened the door was surprised to see that Josi, one of the captains in charge of the recruits, was sitting on her bed. There were other captains standing around the room. All of the captains all looked as if they were expecting her.   
"Josi! What is the meaning of this?!?" demanded the princess.   
The big woman gave a lazy smile. "Are you sure that you don't know?" she asked in a mocking tone. "We're here to oust you, your highness. We're gonna be running things from now on."   
Celeane looked to her other retainers. "Arrest her!" she commanded of them.   
The women did nothing. Well, not quite. Some of the women crossed their arms in defiance and one woman actually laughed out loud. Celeane was starting to become frightened as she realised that she was alone.   
"You see, you Highness," said Josi conversationally, "You're not in charge anymore." 

Ranma, Akane, Mishon and Mishelle had just made it to the guestroom that Ryouga was staying in. Ranma was just about to open the door when Mishon grabbed his arm.   
"Wait! There's no guard out here. That must mean that the guard is in the bedroom."   
Ranma cracked his knuckles. "Just leave him to me..." he started.   
"No, Ranma, wait." Akane tugged on his arm. "The guard is probably a woman or girl like Urma. Let me handle her."   
Ranma nodded, and bowed to her as she took the lead. Akane put her hand onto the doorknob and was about to turn it. Ranma stopped her before she did.   
"Here Akane, use this." He pressed a heavy object into her hand. She looked down and saw that she was holding Ryouga's umbrella.   
"Thank-you," she said gratefully to her husband. Then she opened the door.   
Akane dashed into the room. She brought the heavy bamboo umbrella high over her head and brought it down onto the head of the female guard.   
But the umbrella never connected.   
It was blocked by another umbrella. A blue western-styled one.   
"Akane-san!" called out Jiro. "Wait! It's me!"   
Akane blinked, and blushed. She was grateful that Jiro had excellent reflexes. A slower girl would've been unconscious.   
"Sorry, Jiro-chan," she said.   
"S'okay."   
"Akane-san?"   
Akane looked up. It took her a moment to recognise the blonde young man that was in the same room as her as Ryouga.   
"Ryouga-kun?" she asked in amazement.   
Ranma came in after her. "Yo! Ryouga! Is that you?"   
"Yeah," Ryouga chuckled. "It's me." He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head. "I guess I look kind of silly, don't I?"   
"As compared to what?" asked Ranma. "You don't look any sillier than you usually do, P-chan! But that is one wild outfit."   
"Shut-up, Ranma!!!!" Both Akane and Ryouga aimed a punch to Ranma's head. They both connected, but Ranma remained standing.   
"Jeez! You're touchy!" he accused Ryouga.   
Ryouga growled. "Believe me, this is nothing compared to the get-up that I was wearing earlier..."   
Ranma blinked at the venom in the Lost Boy's voice.   
There were some murmurs from outside the room.   
"Is it safe to come in?" asked Mishon from outside in the hall.   
"Yeah," replied Ranma. "Come in!" Mishon and Mishelle both snuck into the room and shut the door. The boy looked to Ryouga and grinned.   
"I found your friends for you," he said proudly.   
"Thanks," said Ryouga gratefully.   
"Have we got everybody?" asked Akane.   
"Yeah, I think so," said Ranma. "And..." he turned to Ryouga and handed over the heavy backpack. "This is yours, I assume?"   
"Great!" cheered Ryouga. "My clothes! Thanks, Ranma!"   
"Uh," Ranma was taken by surprise by the thanks, but he recovered real fast. "No problem, man."   
"I guess that we should get out of here then," suggested Jiro, "We still have to rescue Ukyou."   
"Lemme change first," suggested Ryouga. "There's no way in hell that I'm going out there in this ridiculous outfit."   
Jiro grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him into the room with the tub. "Change in here, Oniichan. We'll be waiting for you. Call when you're done."   
"Right..." Ryouga waited for his sister to leave the room, then started to dig around in his backpack for his more familiar and comfortable clothes. 

Ranma was waiting with the women when he just recalled something. He walked around to the room with the bath, where he found Ryouga, dressed in only his green leggings. The lost boy was just starting to pull his sleeveless shirt over his head.   
"Hey, Ryouga? Can I ask you something?"   
"Hmmm?" came Ryouga's muffled voice from inside the shirt. His head came out and he starting struggling to find the right places to put his arms through. "What did you want?" he asked.   
"It's about that ring you gave Ucchan..." Ranma paused, wondering how he was going to phrase his question correctly. Then he shrugged and plunged onward. "Where did you buy it?"   
Ryouga blinked as he managed to get his arm through his shirt. "Why do you want to know?"   
"Well... I feel kinda guilty --never gotten Akane an engagement ring and all... I want to give her the ring that she deserves."   
"That's a good idea. Akane-san definitely deserves it." Ryouga got his other arm through and he reached into his pack for a yellow cord. He bent down and started to wrap the cord around his shin.   
"So... Where did you get the ring for Ucchan?" asked Ranma. "How much did it cost?"   
"I didn't buy the ring," Ryouga stated simply as he tied the cord and reached for another.   
"You couldn't have stole it," said Ranma flatly. "You're an honourable guy."   
Ryouga paused in the middle of wrapping the cord. "Give it up, Ranma. You'll never find another ring like it."   
"Oh, really, P-chan? Care to tell me why?"   
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."   
"Try me."   
Ryouga shrugged and finish tying up the other cord. "I made it," he said.   
Ranma was sceptical. "You made it. Right." He crossed his arms and glared at his friend/rival. "Why do I have trouble believing that?"   
"Told you," muttered Ryouga as he tried to secure his mass of blonde curls into a ponytail.   
"Huh?"   
"I said that you wouldn't believe me. I've gotten better with rocks. I don't just know the Bakusai Tenketsu anymore. A diamond is nothing more than a very hard rock." Ryouga tied his bandanna around his head.   
"Whatever you say, man." Ranma didn't want to ask anymore questions on the subject. They gave him headaches.   
"Let's go get Ukyou," Ryouga suggested.   
"Wait," Ranma said.   
"What now?!?"   
"Um. First off, I want you to understand that this is NOT my idea."   
"What isn't?"   
"It was the only way we could get Nabiki to agree to lend us a boat..." Ranma pulled out a small notepad and pencil. Ryouga was confused.   
"Huh?" he asked eloquently. "What are you talking about?"   
"Sorry, man... Uh, have you any problems with split ends yet?"   
"What?!?"   
"What about this... Does you hair always curl like that?"   
"Uh..." Ryouga was at a loss. "My hair does tend to curl in heavy humidity, but not this quickly and not this much."   
Ranma jotted the response down.   
"Did you use anything that can affect your hair?" he asked.   
"I washed it earlier with normal shampoo. Or at least I think it was normal shampoo... Why are you asking me these things? "   
"Nabiki wanted me and Jiro to do the follow-ups. She wanted to know how the stuff that they put in your hair would react to adverse conditions."   
"You're kidding me..."   
"Nope."   
Ryouga sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with. 

Jiro and Akane were talking with the two siblings.   
"So you say that the princess rules by whim?" asked Akane.   
"Yeah," sighed Mishelle. "Anything she wants, she tends to get."   
"That's gotta be hard on everybody else," commented Jiro.   
"It can be," replied Mishon. "But not as bad as you think. She doesn't do a lot of really stupid stuff, like forbidding people to eat or to ban owning pets and stuff. But there are some foolish things that she does that no one can question. Like the kid napping of Ryouga. She expected him to just go through with the marriage without question like everyone else around here."   
"But it didn't work that way," commented the younger sibling. "He refused her every time. Princess Celeane was so frustrated."   
"But so was Ryouga," chuckled Mishon. "He really hated the outfit that the princess had him wear when he first got here."   
"The one he was just wearing was rather nice though," commented Akane.   
"Yeah, but the one he was wearing earlier..." Mishon shook his head. "Heck, if it was me who had to wear that thing, I'd have died from embarrassment."   
"Oh?" asked Jiro. "What kind of outfit was it?"   
"There's one laid out on the bed," commented Mishelle.   
Jiro went over to take a look. "_Oh my..._" she giggled as she picked up the article of clothing. "Yeah, I can see why Oniichan would be unhappy in that."   
Akane went to take a look. She saw the loincloth and belt that Ryouga's little sister was holding. She gasped. "Poor Ryouga-kun..."   
"So that's how he got his tan..." mused the tall girl.   
"Speaking of clothes, how long does it take that guy to change anyway?"   
"Oh!" Jiro turned to face the boy. "He's done changing. It's just that Ranma-san is busy asking him questions."   
"Really?" asked Akane. "What kind of questions?"   
Jiro put her hand to her head, fingering her blonde hair.   
"Oh. Those questions," Akane sighed. "I sometimes wish that Oneechan could be a little more generous."   
"Huh? What?" asked Mishon.   
"It's about the stuff that's been used to turn Oniichan's hair blonde."   
"You mean that it isn't natural?!?" asked Mishelle in surprise.   
Both Akane and Jiro shook their heads.   
"Boy!" laughed the cleaning boy. "That would have been quite a surprise for the Princess, if she knew..."   
"Wouldn't it, though..." chuckled Ryouga as he came out of the washroom with Ranma. He saw what Jiro was still holding up and he blushed. "**Get rid of that thing!**" he yelped at his sister.   
Jiro blinked and grinned at her brother. "I bet it looked so cute on you, Oniichan."   
Ryouga turned his back. "Just get rid of it," he said.   
"Okay."   
"Are we on our way yet?" asked Ranma.   
"Yes," Akane nodded. "Mishon-kun and Mishelle-chan have agreed to take us to the dungeons.   
"We can free Ukyou," Ryouga said hopefully. "And maybe get something to eat afterwards."   
All of the present visitors to the island nodded, as they didn't have anything to eat since they arrived. Then they all went out the door. Jiro went out last, after stuffing her brother's skimpy outfit inside of her borrowed uniform. 

Ukyou was pacing around in a cell in the dungeon. She was mad. All of her spatulas have all been taken from her and she was unarmed. She was thinking black thoughts at the island princess.   
She tried to recall the events that had landed her in the dungeon. 

She was in the balcony, looking for her fiancé. She had trouble finding him and when she did, she almost didn't recognise him. He didn't look like the young man that she fell in love with a year before and he didn't even look like the young man that was taken from her restaurant a couple of days before. His skin had been tanned golden and his blonde hair was curly. He was wearing clothes that flattered his muscular figure.   
_Bishounen_, Ukyou had thought. A beautiful young man. And for a moment, Ukyou thought he was too beautiful to be with the likes of her. Then she saw how miserable he looked.   
"What did that _bitch_ do to him?!?" she remembered asking Jiro.   
He looked like a doll. He was dressed to match the other nobles that were seated in the hall, but the gold circlet with the emerald was too much. It made him look like a valuable object instead of a person.   
Then Celeane got up to make her announcement. That was when Ukyou snapped. She had quickly remembered the last year and the work that two of them put in together to make sure that the relationship would work. She remembered the day that Ryouga, dark-haired, blushing and down on one knee, handed her a most exquisite ring. His eyes were asking the one question that his mouth could not. She remembered his look when she said yes to his unvoiced question. The memory of how his whole face lit up with a warm glow was one that Ukyou vowed that she would keep for the rest of her life.   
**_ And this little girl wanted to take that away?!?_**   
That was when she threw caution to the wind and made her unorthodox entrance.   
She can sort of remembered Jiro's surprised gasp, but ignored it as all of her concentration was focused on getting to the floor below.   
She recalled how Ryouga looked at her as she landed on the banquet table. He was confused, and surprised to see her. And she recalled the hope and wonder that shone in his eyes when she appeared. And his joy at seeing her. It was obvious that this particular bishounen was happy to see her.   
And Celeane was not.   
The snot-nosed princess had jumped on the table to face her down. And all Ukyou wanted to do was to teach the girl a lesson for separating her and Ryouga the way that she did.   
Then the guardswomen came and grabbed her to take her away. Ryouga would have helped her, but he was held back by a huge woman with red hair, holding a knife in front of his face. The last thing she saw before she was dragged out of the room was Ryouga's worry for her and Celeane's contempt. 

Ukyou snapped back to the present, and shook her head. She was embarrassed as well as angry.   
She was furious at Celeane for taking her fiancé away from her and for throwing her in this cell. And she was embarrassed with herself for allowing her temper get the better of her like it did. If she had simply waited, she could have got Ryouga from his room after he returned there for the night, and all of them could have escaped, without the Princess being wise until it was too late.   
But her rashness has cost her her freedom. Instead of being the rescuer, she'll have to be rescued. _How can things get any worse?_ she asked herself.   
"Heads up! You got company." A harsh female voice called to her as if in answer. Ukyou looked to the small window of the steel door and saw the face of the red-haired woman that prevented Ryouga from helping her earlier. The guard gave the okonomiyaki chef a cruel smile. A key clattered in the lock and the cell door opened. A small figure was shoved into the cell, and it collapsed on the floor. Ukyou watched as the door was shut and locked. She listened as the guardswoman walked off and upstairs out of the dungeon. Then she turned to look at the figure that was groaning on the floor, and gasped.   
It was Celeane. 

* * *

_What do you think of the story so far? Please email all C&C's to [nikiparadis@hotmail.com][1]. Thanks for taking the time to read this._

_Illustrations to this story as well as the others can be found in Iikiba's Photo Album ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html][2])._   
_Please visit my page: The Crossroads ([http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/][3]) A site dedicated to Ryouga Hibiki, anime's favourite Lost Boy._

   [1]: mailto:nikiparadis@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/album.html
   [3]: http://members.xoom.com/WanderingGal/



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